Breast Cancer Care is a charity in the UK that provides information, practical assistance and emotional support to anyone affected by breast cancer. The organization was founded in 1972 by Betty Westgate who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1968. The organization's headquarters are located in London, with satellite offices in Sheffield, Cardiff, and Glasgow.
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Breast Cancer Care was founded by Betty Westgate in 1972, four years after her own diagnosis of breast cancer in 1968. At the outset, the charity was called Cancer Education Voluntary Service; the name was later changed to Breast Care and Mastectomy Association of Great Britain in 1987 and again to Breast Cancer Care in 1994.
Betty’s passion for information, education and empowerment lead her to setting up the Mastectomy Association which she ran on a voluntary basis from her home in Croydon, South London, until March 1981. In 1981, the National Society for Cancer Relief (Now Macmillan Cancer Support) offered to fund the work of the Mastectomy Association to enable it to develop its full potential.
In 1989 the first office opened in Scotland. This was also the year of the first fashion show involving women with breast cancer as models. Cherie Booth QC became a Patron of Breast Cancer Care in 1997, followed by Geri Halliwell in 2000. In 2001, Breast Cancer Care opened its first office in the North of England with a fourth regional office opened in Wales in 2003.
Breast Cancer Care provides a range of services to support those affected by breast cancer, their friends and family. A selection of their services according to their website include a telephone support helpline, an Ask the Nurse email service and Face-to-face multiple day services designed to ‘inform, support and connect people affected by breast cancer.’
Prescription for change Prescription for change is a campaign designed to persuade the Department of Health to announce a public consultation on NHS charges which was promised on 23 July 2007. Currently, the list of conditions that are exempt has not been changed since 1968.
EMPLOY Breast Cancer Care developed an employment and benefits charter that was designed to provide employers with guidance on best practice in supporting staff members with a diagnosis of breast cancer. It also sets out the legal employment rights of cancer patients and the corresponding responsibilities that fall to employers under disability discrimination law. Click here for a copy of the EMPLOY charter.
Secondary Breast Cancer Taskforce The Taskforce was set up to look at a number of key areas for people with secondary breast cancer: Standards of treatment and care, provision of nursing and palliative care, provision of information, psychological and emotional support, finance and employment and research and clinical trials.
Breast Cancer Care Registered Charity no. 1017658 at the Charity Commission
Breast Cancer Care Registered Charity no. SC 038104 at the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator