The Somerset, Wiltshire, Avon & Gloucestershire Cancer Alliance is the forum to bring providers and commissioners together with patients, to co-design services to optimise pathways, ensure effective integration and address variation, and are the vehicle that leads the activity required at a local level to meet the 2023/24 ambitions set out by the Cancer Taskforce.
The Cancer Alliance puts clinical leaders across primary, secondary, and tertiary care in the driving seat for improving quality and outcomes across cancer pathways, based on shared data and metrics. Continuing to deliver the strategy and its programmes will require committed leadership, smart choices around investing to save, and a firm intent to try new approaches and test new models of care.
Our Priorities
Early Diagnosis
Early Diagnosis
Faster Diagnosis
Faster Diagnosis
High Quality Modern Services
High Quality Modern Services
Patient Experience
Patient Experience
Personalised Care
Personalised Care
Latest news
Cancer Pathway Navigators are administrative, patient facing roles that work as part of a team to support patients who have been referred from their GP and places on the two-week suspected cancer pathway for a possible cancer diagnosis. The navigators assist with appointment arrangements, provide advice and reassurance and ensure…
April marks Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, an opportunity to raise awareness of bowel cancer – one of the UK’s most common cancers. Almost 44,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer each year in the UK, with 1 in 17 men and 1 in 20 women expected to be diagnosed with…
This year’s SWAG Annual Conference, held on 12th March 2026 at BAWA Bristol, highlighted the strength of our alliance and the impact we achieve when we work together. Our theme: empower, innovate, improve ran through each session, shaping how we think about our services, pathways, and the experiences we deliver. The conference…
Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) play an extraordinary role in guiding people through some of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Their blend of clinical expertise, emotional support, and continuity of care transforms the cancer experience for countless patients and families – and with 3.5 million people now living…
Aspirant Cancer Career and Education Development (ACCEND) Programme Case Study: Embedding ACCEND in Radiotherapy Report by Jodi Norman, ACCEND Practice Education Facilitator The Radiotherapy Department at the Royal United Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Bath has demonstrated the transformative impact of the ACCEND Practice Education Facilitator (PEF) role. Spanning AfC Bands…
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust Across the NHS, thousands of people are referred every day for investigations to rule our or diagnose cancer. Cancer pathways involve a range of appointments and diagnostic activities, including specialist consultations, radiology and pathology investigations, endoscopy,…
SWAG Cancer Alliance is proud to join Bristol Rovers Football Club, Bristol Rovers Community Trust and Bristol NHS Group in launching ‘The John Green Campaign’ – a new community initiative designed to increase awareness of prostate cancer and support earlier diagnosis. John’s Story Named in honour of lifelong Bristol Rovers…
We are pleased to see the publication of the National Cancer Plan by the Department of Health and Social Care on this World Cancer Day 2026. Here at SWAG Cancer Alliance, we support the commitments to ensuring more people survive cancer, are diagnosed earlier and faster, and receive more personalised…
