Stay updated with our organisational strategy

We're going to invest over £45 million in transformational research.

We have committed to funding the research which will reduce deaths from blood cancer. We’re increasing the amount of money we put into blood cancer research from £5 million each year to £15 million each year by 2028 – over £45 million in total over the next 5 years. We’re also working to increase the amount that other research funders invest in blood cancer research by 20%.

We are changing the way in which we fund research, through more targeted and diverse funding rounds, and new partnerships with the government, the NHS, and with other charities.

We are also measuring the difference that the research we fund makes, so that we can be sure that we’re increasing our understanding of blood cancer, accelerating new treatments and technologies and making sure that more people survive a blood cancer diagnosis.

In February 2024, we will launch our next research funding call. People affected by blood cancer will continue to shape every aspect of the research we fund so that it is the best it can possibly be.

We’re investigating blood cancer survival rates so we can identify what will make a difference and where it’s most needed.

We’re carrying out the first ever detailed investigation into the differences in survival rates for blood cancer between the UK and other countries as well as within the UK. We’re looking at what difference it makes depending on where someone lives in the UK, what type of blood cancer they have, and their ethnicity. We’ll share more information on this early next year.

Using this analysis, and expertise from across the blood cancer community and the views of patients, we’ll identify why there are differences in how blood cancer care is delivered in different areas of the UK.

This work will form the basis of the Blood Cancer Action Plan which we will publish in spring 2024. The action plan will share what we’ve learned and set out recommendations for what the government, the NHS, industry and charities like ours should do to address those differences in outcomes. The next step will be to put those recommendations into action.

In the New Year, we’ll be carrying out a series of focus groups with people diagnosed with blood cancer or caring for someone diagnosed with blood cancer in the last two years. We’ll be asking questions about your experience of receiving blood cancer care and your relationship with your clinical team. We’d like to involve people with different types of blood cancer living and receiving care across the UK. If taking in part in one of the sessions interests you, please express interest by email at [email protected].

We’re transforming our services so that we can reach and support everyone living with blood cancer.

Not enough people who are diagnosed with blood cancer get the support they need, particularly if they are from disadvantaged or marginalised communities.

Some people are told about Blood Cancer UK by their healthcare team, and some people find our information and support services themselves. But many more people aren’t aware of our services, therefore don’t access support they are entitled to through their blood cancer experience.

We’re developing a new way for healthcare teams to connect their patients to the support that’s right for them.

We’ve been working with people affected by blood cancer and healthcare professionals to plan how this could work. While there have been many challenges along the way, particularly trying to find time with very busy nurses, it is clear how important it has been to have people who we want to use this service in the room with us as we shape our ideas together.

In November and December we’re going to start trialling different models of how we can make this happen out with the support of two hospitals. If we get positive results, we’ll develop this into a full pilot programme in the new year, and look to learn what works well before expanding further across the UK.

It's vital that throughout this project, we're continuously observing how people are using our service, listening to feedback and developing our thinking to ensure we can make this work as effectively as possible to have the most impact for people affected by blood cancer.

We’re finding the very best ways to reach everyone who cares about beating blood cancer.

Our goal is to end up with many, many more people doing many more things with and for us, whether that’s being supported by us or supporting our mission through volunteering, fundraising or campaigning.

First, we’re learning more about our healthcare professional community in November and December 2023 to understand more about what they need from us to support their patients and also to understand their needs and motivations around being involved with a blood cancer charity.

We’re using everything that we learn to make really good decisions – so if we learn that something won’t help us make a difference for people affected by blood cancer then we’ll stop doing it and focus on the things we know will.

We’re also conducting a survey with people affected by blood cancer who aren’t currently involved with us, to better understand their needs and motivations so that we can be led by their needs in our engagement activities and make our products, services and communications as relevant as possible.