Key Objectives
Making the Future Happen - Our Key Objectives for 2025-2030
Impact
We will provide high quality cancer support services (face-to-face, telephone, and online where preferable or more practical) to cancer patients and their families in Ayrshire. To demonstrate our impact, we aim to:
- Have 90% of referrals processed in one month (from initial contact to assessment).
- Fulfil 95% of patient transport requests received (99.2% fulfilled in 2022/23 and 99.7% fulfilled in 2023/24).
- Maintain 90% of positive evaluation feedback for services.
- Increase the footfall to our Drop-in Centres, where no appointment is required, by 10% each year.
Sustainability and Growth
We will develop a strong infrastructure focussing on good governance and income generation to ensure a sustainable future for Ayrshire Cancer Support:
- We aim to utilise our resources in the most effective way to provide for the needs of those we support. To do this we will grow our income to exceed expenditure and build reserves.
- Our target is to increase our revenue income by at least 10% each year, with a base level of £1.36m in 2023/24, providing this figure exceeds expenditure in the previous year and forecast of expenditure for the forthcoming year.
- We aim to progress the expansion of our retail project, including income from our shop(s), online retail, and retail Gift Aid. Over the next 5 years (2025-2030) we aim to have total retail / trading income as 15% of our overall revenue income.
- In accordance with ICJ rollout in Ayrshire, we aim to reach more people needing support and advice and make our services easier to find for those who need them.
- We aim for our Ayr Centre project to be complete, and open, by Spring 2025 from where we will offer our full range of cancer support services, including bespoke children and young people specialist support.
- We aim to increase the percentage of new therapeutic referrals in North Ayrshire, from 27% of overall referrals in 2023-2024, through targeted awareness raising.
- We will maintain a strong presence in the Kyle Chemotherapy Unit at
Ailsa Hospital
when we have moved back into our refurbished and extended
Ayr Centre, through the provision of our Tea and Information Hub.
Partnership Working
We will continue to work in collaboration with health, social care and education professionals and other third sector organisations to enhance the range and quality of services available to those affected by cancer. We will contribute to, and share, best practice in cancer care and support by continuing to participate in local and national forums such as WoSCAN, the Scottish Cancer Coalition, and the Ayrshire Cancer Forum.
- To demonstrate our commitment to partnership working we aim to build new partnerships with third sector organisations and sustain our existing partnerships. We will look to grow partnerships in line with emerging cancer data in the most person-centred way possible.
- We aim to work in collaboration with other health and social care professionals in delivery of the Scottish Government Cancer Strategy 2023-2033 and Action Plan 2023-2026. We will seek to respond to demand arising from ICJ and the introduction of Universal Prehabilitation Workshops within the scope of our available resources.
People
Current and future people need will be considered. The impact of the ICJ programme rollout is yet unquantified, and if we are to expand to meet an anticipated increase in demand for our services, this will be against a backdrop of being able to increase our revenue income, including statutory funding, to match it in terms of future people need.
- Support and develop our staff team, underpinning our values and the ethos of teamwork, successfully growing in line with determined future requirements.
- Nurture our staff from within, providing appropriate training, upskilling and opportunities for progression, measuring our training expenses per staff member.
- Ensure continued implementation of a clear absence policy and associated procedures, which are communicated effectively, addressed promptly, supporting staff appropriately to minimise absenteeism.
- Onboard, train and retain a variety of sessional practitioners and volunteers to support the delivery of each of our services, by utilising a range of attraction channels, a comprehensive induction process and ongoing support.