Community Health
More information on health projects in your local community
Macmillan Cancer Care Co-ordinator
Macmillan Cancer Care Coordinators help you navigate life during and after Cancer, by offering support close to home.
A cancer diagnosis can be overwhelming, and navigating treatment, recovery and support services can often feel complicated. Macmillan Cancer Care Coordinators are here to help.
Acting as a vital link between patients, GP practices, hospitals and community support services, our coordinators ensure that people affected by cancer can access the information, advice and practical support they need—close to home.
Supporting You Throughout Your Cancer Journey
Cancer treatment may take place at a variety of hospitals across Greater Manchester. While some people receive treatment at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, others may attend specialist centres such as Salford Royal Hospital or The Christie.
Patients who receive treatment outside the Wigan Borough often have limited contact with local healthcare teams during and after their treatment. That's where our Macmillan Cancer Care Coordinators make a difference.
By providing a central point of contact, they help ensure that everyone affected by cancer stays connected to local services, support networks and community resources throughout their journey and beyond.
Come and Talk to Us
Macmillan Cancer Care Coordinators are based in community venues across the local area, offering accessible information, advice and support when you need it most.
Whether you would like to attend a drop-in session or book a one-to-one appointment, our coordinators are here to listen and help you find the right support at the right time.
How We Can Help
Our coordinators provide personalised support to help individuals move forward with confidence after cancer treatment. They can:
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Complete Cancer Care Reviews and Holistic Needs Assessments to help identify what matters most to you and develop a personalised care and support plan.
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Support the transition from active treatment to living well with and beyond cancer.
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Connect you with valuable local services, including:
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Counselling and emotional support
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Cancer support groups
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Volunteering opportunities
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Welfare and financial advice
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Community activities and wellbeing services
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Empower you to take an active role in managing your own health and wellbeing.
Working Together for Better Care
Macmillan Cancer Care Coordinators work closely with:
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GP Practices
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Practice Nurses
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Community Link Workers
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Care Coordinators
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Specialist Cancer Nurse Teams
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Tumour-specific hospital teams
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Macmillan Information Centres at Thomas Linacre Centre and Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wigan
This strong network ensures that support is joined up and responsive. When necessary, coordinators can help fast-track referrals back to your GP or Cancer Nurse Specialist to ensure you receive the right care without delay.
MMR Vaccination
Wigan Borough Federated Healthcare are commissioned by Wigan Public Health to raise awareness of the importance of MMR vaccination, addressing barriers and providing education to increase MMR vaccination opportunities and up-take.
Why MMR?
There has been reports of increasing measles cases nationally. Across the Wigan borough, there are geographical areas of low MMR vaccination up-take, specifically MMR 2. Highlighting the need for a targeted, approach to meet the needs of individual communities, to protect those at risk of infection and prevent disease outbreak.
Engaging with Wigan Residents
Informed by local MMR up-take data a Federation registered nurse completes targeted community outreach, attending local events, community groups and Family Hubs, to speak with Wigan residents about vaccinations. Residents welcome the opportunity to ask questions and discuss concerns, allowing the Federation to provide the right information and advice to enable people to make an informed choice about vaccination. The Federation also works alongside GP Surgeries, to support a targeted approach focusing-on young adults (16 to 29 years old) who have received one or no doses of the MMR vaccine.
So far, we have engaged with over 2,800 residents and delivered more than 100 vaccinations through community outreach, pop-up clinics and educational sessions.
Wigan Borough Federated Healthcare CIC Showcases Community-Led MMR Success at UKHSA Conference 2026
Wigan Borough Federated Healthcare CIC (WBFH) was proud to attend the UKHSA Conference 2026 in Manchester, where healthcare professionals, researchers and public health leaders came together to share innovative approaches to protecting and improving population health.
The conference theme, “Securing health together: Partnership, prevention, preparedness”, provided an ideal platform to highlight WBFH's work to improve MMR vaccination uptake through a community-led approach. At the conference, WBFH worked with Wigan Public Health commissioners, showcasing how working alongside local communities has helped address barriers to vaccination and build confidence in the MMR vaccine. Rather than relying solely on traditional healthcare interventions, the programme focused on engaging, trusted community voices, understanding local concerns, and co-designing solutions that reflected the needs of residents.
The initiative brought together primary care teams, community organisations, local leaders and public health partners to create a more accessible and culturally sensitive approach to vaccination. By listening to communities and tailoring engagement activities accordingly, WBFH was able to reach groups where vaccine uptake had historically been lower. The community-led model centred on building trust through meaningful conversations, delivering clear and accessible information, and creating opportunities for residents to discuss concerns with healthcare professionals in familiar settings.
This approach helped tackle vaccine hesitancy, improve awareness of the importance of MMR vaccination, and support families to make informed decisions about their children's health. In addition, data searches highlighted immunisation coding errors within patient records.
The opportunity to present this work at the UKHSA Conference 2026 demonstrated how strong partnerships between healthcare providers and local communities can contribute to improved health outcomes. The experience reinforced the value of prevention-focused interventions and highlighted the important role that community engagement plays in reducing health inequalities and increasing vaccination coverage. WBFH remains committed to working with communities across the borough to improve access to preventative healthcare services and ensure that every child has the opportunity to benefit from life-saving vaccinations.
