LATCH Welsh Children’s Cancer Charity supports children and young people with cancer and their families who are under the care of the Children’s Hospital for Wales. As it celebrates its 40th anniversary, LATCH’s CEO, Menai Owen-Jones, reflects on its achievements over the past four decades.
When I joined LATCH last year, I quickly learned what makes the charity special. I was touched by the personalised and individualised support services provided to children, young people and their families as they face the long, gruelling and uncertain journey of cancer treatment. Since its inception, the essence of the charity has been about giving hope and making life a little easier for them by putting their needs first.
LATCH’s early years
LATCH was established in 1983 by a small group of families whose children were undergoing treatment for cancer. They wanted to provide mutual support and raise money to improve the lives of patients. Back then, the Children’s Oncology Unit for Wales was based in Llandough Hospital, Vale of Glamorgan, which explains the origin of the acronym LATCH - ‘Llandough Aims to Treat Children with Cancer and Leukaemia with Hope’.
In 2004, the Children’s Oncology Unit moved to Cardiff to the new Children’s Hospital for Wales. At the time, through a significant public fundraising campaign, LATCH funded a purpose-built eight-bed accommodation unit at the hospital for families to be able to stay on site while their child is an inpatient.
Free support services for families
We provide a home-from-home experience for our families staying with us at our on-site hospital accommodation, and supply things such as toiletries, food, laundry, entertainment and kitchen facilities. LATCH offers several other support services including financial grants, holiday caravans and events and activities for children, young people and their siblings, to bring families together for support and community. Our social workers, meanwhile, specialise in issues facing the families of children receiving treatment for cancer and provide practical, emotional and financial support.
As a family going through a cancer journey, the importance of having a charity like LATCH picking and propping us up along the way, making us smile when we never felt it would be possible again was priceless.
Kathryn, mum to Gethin, who was diagnosed with leukaemia when aged sixWorking in partnership with NHS Wales
Since joining LATCH last year, I’ve seen first-hand the importance of partnership working between the health service and patient organisations, and the positive difference collaboration makes. The LATCH team works with the clinical teams at the Children’s Hospital for Wales and our social workers are part of the multidisciplinary team of the Children’s Oncology Unit.
We also provide financial grants and funding for the Children’s Hospital for Wales Paediatric Oncology Unit for capital improvements, medical equipment and research projects. Our partnership working with the hospital and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board extended to funding a £1.2m refurbishment of the paediatric oncology inpatient ward, Rainbow Ward, in 2021 and the initial development of an early phase clinical trials research service for children and young people with cancer. This directly helped to establish the first Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) in Wales.
Looking ahead
We know more needs to be done to raise awareness of the needs of children, young people and their families impacted by cancer, including highlighting the financial hardship many face and how more financial support is needed to help them. Looking ahead, this is an exciting time in our journey as we focus on the development of our services to build on the achievements of the past 40 years. We’ve always been there when families need us most and we’ll continue to place their needs first, as our founders did all those years ago.
Find out more about LATCH or to support its 40th anniversary celebrations:
Email: Lisa.davies4@wales.nhs.uk
From Contact magazine issue 100 - Autumn 2023
