1st May 2014 Survivorship Forum Report: Making the
Changes that Matter
The fifth LCA Survivorship Group Forum was held on 1st May 2014 at the Royal College of Nursing. The
focus was making the changes that matter, and aimed to provide practical suggestions on how to
implement change within daily practice. Dr. Tim Anstiss was commissioned to run the majority of the
afternoon, with presentations prior to his session on progress to date within the Survivorship Pathway
Group’s work and from Sandra Jackson, Head and Neck CNS at Mount Vernon, who spoke about her
personal experiences of making change happen.
60 delegates attended the afternoon. These were mostly from the LCA, but also included attendees from
London Cancer and some user representatives. A range of professionals, including nurses, allied health
professionals, researchers, educators and medical consultants attended. 10 LCA trusts were represented,
alongside two hospices, three third sector organisations and London Cancer.
The opening presentation focused on the work of the survivorship group over the preceeding year, and
described how changes had been levied and monitored through the LCA metrics. It moved on to discuss
the likely aims and objectives for the coming year. The next presentation was a detailed description of how
a service in Mount Vernon had been developed and gave a personal account of how that change had
happened, and shared some key learning points with the delegates.
For the remainder of the afternoon, Dr. Tim Anstiss led work on how to use appreciative inquiry to lead
change in a positive way. He provided presentations on the theory and background alongside some
examples of how this had been used effectively in practice. This was intermixed with opportunity to work
with colleagues to use the techniques with personal experiences. Feedback was gained from 35 attendees
and was without exception positive. The event met the expectations of all except one person, who still
reported that the event had been both useful and interesting. Key themes which emerged from the
feedback were that participants valued having the opportunity to think positively about their work
practices and how to do more of the good, rather than always identifying the weaknesses. They found the
chance to network and learn from others helpful, as well as the chance to reflect with colleagues on
positives. They thought the appreciated inquiry model was applicable to their practice and particularly liked
the use of language which they felt would encourage others to work collaboratively on change.
Ideas for future events included more opportunities for sharing practice, and more on change
methodologies. People wanted to learn more about how to manage less discussed but still prevalent
consequences such as cardiac toxicity and bone health. Patient experience, an update on wider LCA work
and a commissioning update where also asked for.
The next LCA Survivorship Forum will be on Thursday 25th September at Central Hall, Westminster and will
focus on ‘Living well, with and beyond cancer; the evidence’.
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