Image credit: Bridger Film and Photography

Why did Ovacome set up an ovarian cancer support hub in the Midlands?

As a member-led charity, we had to act when members told us (during our consultation in early 2018) that they needed more regional, accessible support.

We spent the summer researching local support services and population information in the West Midlands, and in November 2018 we applied for National Lottery funding through the People’s Projects programme.

Success relied upon a public vote held in April 2019, which we were delighted to win!

We received funding in May, started recruiting and setting up the office base over the summer, and our first West Midlands Hub Co-ordinator joined the team in September 2019.

Since then she has been mapping local hospitals, cancer support centres and support groups across the region, looking at how we can collaborate with existing services or partner with others to create new support services where needed.

Our overall goal is to improve the experience of anyone affected by ovarian cancer in the West Midlands. Our three main aims are to:

• reduce the isolation of those affected by ovarian cancer.
• increase collaboration between local support services.
• raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer.

In July 2020, we won a government grant, distributed by the National Lottery Community Fund, to extend the reach of the hub and work towards a multilingual symptoms awareness campaign in November 2020. The grant enabled us to recruit a West Midlands regional hub officer, who joined the team in August 2020.

In 2022 two new staff members joined the Ovacome team and have been working to expand the hub to cover the whole Midlands region.

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Community outreach

Our Midlands hub has been working to establish links with community groups and raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer in the region.

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Ovarian cancer support groups

We now have three local support groups up and running in the Midlands and surrounding areas! These are being run in a hybrid format, meaning that you can join us either in person or via Zoom.

Come and meet others from your area, share experiences and advice, ask our team your questions, and make new friends.

Coventry and Warwickshire support group

Worcestershire support group

Birmingham support group

Hereford support group

If you'd like us to help you set up a support group in you area, get in touch at [email protected] .

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Raising awareness

We've produced written and video awareness resources in Arabic, Bengali, Gujarati, Polish, Punjabi and Urdu. 

Find out more about our community awareness work.

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Get in touch

Anyone affected by ovarian cancer in the Midlands will be supported to access Ovacome’s UK-wide services, such as the telephone support line (call 0800 008 7054, Monday – Friday 10am – 5pm), the online forum or specialist video call support groups, such as the Under 45s group, Stoma group, or Rarer cancer group.

You can call Jo, our Midlands Hub Coordinator:

Jo - [email protected] - 07555 565922

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We would like to thank Postcode Local Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People's Postcode Lottery.

Our organisation received £17,420 from the Trust to provide support and raise awareness of signs and symptoms in seven languages, targeting under-represented communities across the West Midlands.

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We were delighted to be selected as a finalist in the Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards 2022, for our ovarian cancer community services.