Cancer Care Connector in Birmingham

CARE Connect is a two-year Macmillan-funded programme to improve culturally responsive shared decisions about cancer care. You will help people affected by cancer and their families understand options, prepare for appointments, ask questions, express preferences and make informed choices, especially when ethnicity, deprivation, language, disability, caring responsibilities or cultural factors create barriers.

This relationship-led role links communities, people with lived experience, voluntary organisations and NHS professionals. You will give people meaningful influence over the project and turn their insights into better support, resources and health-system practice. Success means greater understanding, confidence, dignity, agency and influence, as well as activity and reach. The programme expects to support about 200–250 people affected by cancer and 50–100 family members or carers, with wider community reach.

Requirements

Key responsibilities

Lived experience and NHS partnership

· Expected to work from NHS and Community settings, building client base

· Using the challenges outlined by cancer patients and their families, work with NHS Cancer Teams and system partners to influence decision making in cancer pathways and choose effective points for intervention around diagnosis discussions, early treatment planning and follow-up appointments.

· Establish the CARE Lived Experience Steering Group from existing focus-group members, prioritising those facing deprivation, ethnicity-related, disability, language, caring or digital barriers; support meaningful participation and influence over design, delivery and adaptation. Provide quarterly reviews on the working of the steering group.

· Co-design appointment prompts, question guides and family-inclusive resources with lived experience members in accessible audio, visual, translated and WhatsApp-friendly formats.

· Co-design and pilot communication tools and training with NHS teams for culturally sensitive shared decisions. Facilitate joint reflection with lived experience members and health professionals to identify and remove barriers.

People and families

· Provide culturally responsive one-to-one and small-group decision support, especially at diagnosis and early treatment planning; help people facing overlapping inequities understand options, ask questions and feel confident in decisions.

· Include family members and carers where they influence decisions. Follow up after appointments to address “pretended understanding” and support informed choices.

· Work in a values-led way. Where appropriate, support individuals and families in their spiritual journey and assist with or signpost to Chaplaincy support.

Learning and lasting change

· Agree learning questions, baseline measures and success indicators with partners and lived experience members. Hold quarterly Steering Group reviews to assess progress and adapt the work.

· Produce a learning brief and practical toolkit for the NHS and the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector; share findings through networks and explore adoption beyond the grant.

Standard requirements

· Commit to equal opportunities and understand how deprivation and discrimination affect communities, families and individuals.

· Demonstrate NCA’s values, which underpin its mission to empower individuals, families and communities.

· Use IT competently and develop new skills, including the Zoho CRM system.

This description guides the role and is not a legal document or set of employment conditions. It reflects the main duties when written; duties may vary without changing the role’s general character or grade. NCA will review it regularly and may revise it to meet business needs.

Benefits