ACCESSIBILITY · ADVISORY · PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Breast Cancer UK Engagement Panel
Giving the public a voice in the UK’s only breast cancer prevention charity — shaping health information that is clear, inclusive and evidence-based.
The Project
Breast Cancer UK is the only UK charity dedicated to the prevention of breast cancer, focusing on lifestyle and environmental risk factors — diet, physical activity and exposure to harmful chemicals. Its Public Engagement Panel acts as the public voice in the charity’s content development: reviewing the information produced by the Science and Health Education Team and feeding back on whether it is easy to read, understand and use, and inclusive enough to reflect the charity’s diverse audiences. The panel also provides insight and suggestions on future science and education resources, so they are relevant, accessible and engaging from the outset.
My Contribution
As a panel member, I undertake periodic reviews of Breast Cancer UK’s website content and public health information leaflets — covering risk factors such as chemicals, diet and lifestyle — and provide structured feedback that directly informs content and resource development. I say plainly where the language works, where it does not, and what would need to change for the message to reach the people it is meant for, reflecting the public’s needs back to the Science and Health Education Team.
Why It Matters
Breast Cancer UK holds the Patient Information Forum trusted mark, and its advice is evidence-based — but health information only does its job if it is actually understood. A panel of readers gives the charity the one thing an internal review cannot: the experience of meeting the material for the first time, possibly on a difficult day. Embedding that perspective into content development is what turns accurate information into information people can act on.
Skills Demonstrated