We increased our
Macmillan Buddy volunteers.
Our Buddy volunteers provide emotional one-toone
support for people with cancer. 2023 was our
busiest year for the scheme since it launched during
the pandemic in 2020. We grew our Buddy network
significantly, achieving a much wider geographical
reach of emotional support for people with cancer
during early diagnosis. You can read more about
Macmillan volunteers on page 70.
• We increased the number of active Macmillan
Buddies to over 770 in 2023, compared to over
580 in 2022.
• The Buddies offered over 38,000 support
sessions to over 3,500 people with cancer1.
• They gave 76,000 hours of voluntary support,
which is the equivalent working hours of 50
full-time staff members1.
We improved our local cancer
information services.
We improved our local cancer information services
to reach more people with cancer. We started by
listening to people with cancer and healthcare
professionals about what has helped them and what
we can do better.
We launched new learning resources for information
and support professionals and developed policies,
guidance, and templates to help everyone have a
consistent and positive experience. We also created
improvement plans for underperforming services
and invested in new services to address gaps in our
provision to help us reach more people with cancer
at, or close to, diagnosis.
In 2023 408,000 people diagnosed with cancer
used our information and support services offer
and of those, 102,000 people used our services at
diagnosis1.
The Macmillan Health and Wellbeing Service at
Ulster Hospital has a drop-in service which allows
people affected by cancer to meet with an advisor
face-to-face to talk about any concerns they have
and get support. For people who've completed
treatment, it also offers health and wellbeing events
to highlight the support still available to them.
In 2023, the Macmillan Health and Wellbeing
Service in the Ulster Hospital had over 1,500 visits
from people with cancer, over half of those were
at the point of diagnosis.
David's story
David was diagnosed in March 2023 and
spoke with the Macmillan Health and
Wellbeing Service at Ulster Hospital soon
afterwards. He lives in a rural area with limited
family support and had several practical and
emotional concerns. Through conversation,
David shared some financial worries. He was
referred to the Macmillan Benefits Service,
which resulted in him being awarded a
higher rate of benefits and a blue badge.
A few weeks later, David contacted the
service again - he wanted to leave a courtesy
message to say thank you and share that he
'would have been lost without us'.
Stewart, Telephone Buddy Volunteer
Information and Support Assistant, Jemma
Ewing (right) with a patient at Macmillan
Health and Wellbeing Service, Ulster Hospital
18
Environmental, social
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Financial review
Strategic report
Overview Financial statements Thank you
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