Hope Against Cancer is delighted to be a new member of the Reaching People community. 
 
"We are Leicestershire and Rutland’s local cancer research charity and were established in 2003 with a recognition of the need to bring cutting-edge research to our area and make clinical trials available to local people. Since 2003 HOPE has raised in excess of£8m and funded over 100 research projects tackling many different forms of cancer. 
 
We work in partnership with local universities and hospitals to fund pioneering research to ensure that Leicestershire remains a hub of expertise in cancer research and treatment. 
 
In 2012, we established and opened a dedicated clinical trials unit at Leicester Royal Infirmary to offer patients access to new medicines and therapies. We fund our very own HOPE Nurses there who add to the care and support trials patients receive. In 2021, we expanded this by raising £1.3 million, and reopened the newly named Hope Cancer Trials Centre, so even more patients can benefit from new trials and treatments. 
 
Annual NHS costs for cancer services are £5 billion. The cost to society as a whole – in terms of social, caring and other support costs – is £18.3 billion. 
 
Because of life-saving research more people are surviving cancer. Survival rates have doubled in the last 40 years. But our survival rates are still worse than those for other countries that are as wealthy as us. 
 
Reaching People is clearly a strong consortium and collective voice that shares a common goal of addressing poverty, social disadvantage and inequality. To this end, around 6,500 people in Leicestershire are diagnosed with cancer each year and the region currently has hot spots of cancer associated with cultural and socio-economic factors and healthcare inequalities. 
 
In terms of where collaboration within Reaching People might begin, but not be limited to, is in the area of patient and public involvement. Hope is a partner in the Leicester Bio-medical Research Centre. As such, the Centre is committed to making its research as impactful as possible, with a commitment to involving people at risk of cancer in its work. This means seeking out and working with people who have been affected by cancer, their relatives and carers, to guide, influence and shape projects as they develop, to increase our understanding of cancer and ensure our work meets the needs of local people affected." 
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