The increase in prevalence of the cancer and the success of treatments means that there will need to be a transformation in the way that the NHS cares for people affected by the disease, moving away from the emphasis on acute and episodic care towards a holistic personalised approach that is well co-ordinated and integrated. The aim is to transform care by offering people the opportunity for individualised support to enable supported self-management.
There are established associations between music and health, physical and spiritual. Involvement with music making is recognized as having benefits for specific conditions, especially neurological disorders including forms of dementia. Participation in music making has been shown to improve wellbeing and music has power to communicate with individuals at times of difficulty. This formed the background to the establishment of our survivors’ choir, Rising Voices Wessex.
Underpinning formation of the choir was the intention of using participation in singing as a choir to aid recovery following cancer treatment, to encourage confidence and social interaction, and also promote wellbeing. The focus of the choir is to support people affected by cancer and their carers to regain their confidence and directly stems from the key principles defined through the National Cancer Survivorship Initiative.
To date we have relied on word of mouth, social media, posters and leaflets for communications about the choir and events.
Communications have a key role to play in building a consistent voice across the community and local NHS. This can be achieved through the delivery of joined-up, consistent and coordinated messages that support and aid the marketing of the choir. We need to identify ambassadors for the choir, who will offer support to promote the choir, performances and events.
