The new body, CCLG: The Children & Young People’s Cancer Association, is the UK and Ireland’s professional association for health and social care professionals working in paediatric or teenage and young adult (TYA) cancer services, and researchers in the field of children and young people’s cancer.
Its CEO, Ashley Ball-Gamble, explained that merging into a single, cohesive membership body focused on 0-24-year-olds would also foster greater collaboration, enhance access to resources, and build a stronger community dedicated to advancing treatment, care and support for children and young people with cancer and their families.
He said that said the merger will enhance its membership offer, especially for those who work across the patient age groups, and its core activities, including funding and leading world-class age-specific research, providing trusted health information, and undertaking early diagnosis initiatives, to meet the evolving needs of those it serves.
He said:
Our new, unified membership marks an exciting new chapter that combines our mutual strengths to create new opportunities and drive excellence in everything we do. It will bring together healthcare professionals and researchers dedicated to supporting children, teenagers, and young adults, with the goal of creating a stronger, more connected professional community. As the experts in children’s, teenage and young adult cancers, we want to drive progress, and coming together will help us do so with the sharing of ideas, resources and best practice – ultimately to the benefit of children, young people and their families. There are great opportunities for sharing successes between different areas of cancer care to improve the patient experience across all age groups. For instance, the TYA field has made great strides in ambulatory care, while paediatric care h researchers and as led the way in advanced clinical practice. By learning from each other’s advancements, we can enhance services and provide even better support to all patients.
CCLG is currently developing a new strategic plan and research strategy, which Mr Ball-Gamble said, “would allow us to focus on improving outcomes and experiences for all children, teenagers, and young adults in a more streamlined, impactful way”.
Having first combined its behind-the-scenes infrastructure in 2019, collaboration between TYAC and CCLG has continued to grow, particularly over the last two years, with shared specialist working groups and joint educational and training opportunities.
Extensive stakeholder engagement work found that members of both had shown a keen interest in expanding these joint efforts and were overwhelmingly in favour of developing a collective membership.
Mr Ball-Gamble explained:
As we look to the future, we believe that now is the perfect time to bring together the two memberships and move forward under one identity. We’d like to recognise the important legacy of both, and the key roles they’ve played in service development, education and supporting professionals. With the passion and commitment of our community of experts, and the dedication of our incredible supporters, we’ll continue to build on this work so that all children, teenagers and young adults with cancer receive the best possible treatment and care.
Mr Ball-Gamble added that along with its new identity CCLG will be moving forward with a new website, fresh branding and a change to the way it talks about its work, to further its profile and grow fundraising income to support its work.
He said:
This change isn’t just about a name – it’s part of a broader brand that includes a new look, fresh language, and a cohesive way of talking about our work, all with a focus on children and young people.