Get involved: BME Cancer Voice
In this section you can find out more about getting involved and becoming a member of BME Cancer Voice, which incorporates Black Cancer Voice and Asian Cancer Voice.
BME Cancer Voice was set up to provide patients and carers from a BME background with an opportunity to voice their experiences of cancer services and to provide the NHS with information to help support and improve cancer services. More background information on this project can be found in our 'The National BME Patient Experience Programme' section.
Click on the links below for more information.
Becoming a panel member
NCAT works with the NHS, a number of cancer charities, as well as some voluntary-sector organisations to recruit cancer patients to BME Cancer Voice. You can see a full list of our project partners in our 'NHS Charity Partners' section.
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To become a panel member, or for more information on becoming a member, call our freephone number: 0800 634 7382 or register online at www.bmecancerpanel.org.uk. |
BME Cancer Voice members are contacted three or four times a year and invited to take part in a survey. Members then receive the results in a newsletter update, after everybody's viewpoint has been collected. NCAT aims to attract more than 1000 members to BME Cancer Voice, so that all major ethnic groups can be represented.
Each survey covers one 'theme' so we can understand and explore each topic in greater detail. Within each theme, NHS organisations can also suggest particular questions. Questions might be on subjects that they particularly need to know about or feel are very important.
Views from the panel will help to provide information on the BME population of England and its different communities.
For your information we have pulled together a list of answers to the most frequently asked questions below:
Frequently asked questions
How long will the surveys take?
Telephone surveys should take no longer than 30 minutes. Online forms take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete, depending on how good you are with a computer!
Who can get involved?
NCAT wants to hear from you if you are a patient from a BME background, or a carer or relative of someone with cancer from a BME background, and are aged 16 years or older.
What happens when I join?
This will depend on how you wish to be contacted:
By phone
- You will be sent a welcome pack then we will contact you to ask you the first set of questions. If you have requested to be contacted in your own language, the person calling will be a native speaker of your language.
Online/via email
- You will receive the welcome pack in the post followed by an email with a link to the website, where you will be asked to answer the first set of questions. We will ask you to complete this within two weeks.
What if I am busy or away when you want me to complete a survey?
If you are busy when we call, we will be as flexible as possible and try to arrange a call at a time that is convenient for you. This will usually be within two weeks. If you are unable to complete the set of questions within those two weeks you will miss that survey and we will just contact you again when the next set of questions are ready.
Can BME Cancer Voice members be involved in more than just three surveys a year?
Yes. There are opportunities to take part in national or local consultations - we can send you more details after you become a BME Cancer Voice member.
Do BME Cancer Voice members need to attend any meetings?
No, BME Cancer Voice is 'virtual' but panel members are invited to an annual Member's Event to celebrate the panel's progress.
Download information in various languages
Some of our promotional materials are available for you to download.
Our leaflet is available in English and 10 different languages. Click on the links below to view or download them.
- Leaflet - Arabic
- Leaflet - Bengali
- Leaflet - Gujarati
- Leaflet - Polish
- Leaflet - Punjabi
- Leaflet - Somali
- Leaflet - Traditional Chinese
- Leaflet - Turkish
- Poster - English
If you would like to order hard copies of these materials, you can place an order online.