Charity Director Sarah Quinlan MBE shares her thoughts on a landmark event to break the silence on anal cancer.
Breaking the Silence on Anal Cancer: A Landmark Event Coming to Northern Ireland
Radiotherapy UK is proud to be a partner in Breaking the Silence on Anal Cancer, a landmark event that will take place in Northern Ireland on Saturday 21st March 2026, marking Anal Cancer Awareness Day.
Register for the event (here).
This is a first of its kind in Northern Ireland, and one of only a small number of events anywhere in the world dedicated entirely to anal cancer awareness, survivorship, and care. We are delighted to stand alongside the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Lower GI Clinical Oncology team, Rad Chat, OUTpatients UK, Bottom Line Anal Cancer Charity, Macmillan Cancer Support, and others in making this day a reality. Professor of Clinical Oncology and Health Research, David Seabag-Montefiore, will be our guest speaker.
Why This Matters
Anal cancer is one of the most under-talked-about cancers. Despite rising incidence rates and the significant impact, the disease and its treatment can have on people’s lives, it remains shrouded in stigma and silence. Too many people living with or beyond an anal cancer diagnosis are left to navigate their experience alone – unsure of what to expect, unaware of available support, and sometimes too embarrassed to seek help early.
Breaking the Silence on Anal Cancer will bring together patients, clinicians, therapeutic radiographers, researchers, charities, and advocates for a day to raise awareness of anal cancer and spotlight survivorship and the realities faced by people living beyond diagnosis. The event will also focus on the importance of embedding late effect services in the care pathway, and champion the development of the UK’s first anal cancer late effects service in Belfast.
By bringing the conversation out into the daylight we can talk about prevention, risk factors, treatment and late effects – and gather a collective effort to push for a full care pathway through and beyond cancer.
Radiotherapy UK: Championing late effects support
At Radiotherapy UK, we know that radiotherapy is a life-saving treatment, but we also know that for many patients, treatment is just the beginning. Late effects can emerge months or even years after treatment finishes, significantly affecting quality of life, independence, and wellbeing. Without the right support, patients are often left to manage these challenges alone, leading to unnecessary GP appointments, avoidable tests, and preventable distress.
This is significant at a time when health services are under huge strain. A Health Foundation study of 9,000 people with long term conditions found those who felt confident to manage their health had 18% fewer GP visits and 38% fewer A&E visits. (1)
Rather than people reaching a dead end with general or acute clinicians, we want to focus on the importance of properly funded late effects services; as outlined in the APPG-Radiotherapy’s recent report Radiotherapy in the National Cancer Plan (2).
A well-resourced, multidisciplinary late effects service provides timely identification, expert management, and patient-centred care. It reduces the burden on primary and acute services, improves long-term outcomes, and most importantly, helps people live well after treatment.
Events like Breaking the Silence are essential in building awareness not just of anal cancer, but of the full spectrum of care that patients deserve throughout their cancer pathway.
Building Towards a UK-wide rollout
And this is just the start. Led by visionary healthcare professionals and podcasters, Naman Julka-Anderson and Jo MacNamara of global knowledge hub Rad Chat, this event is a pilot that will help co-produce a toolkit for a coordinated four-nation rollout in 2027 – developing a sustainable, annual awareness model that can reach patients, clinicians, and communities across the UK.
We are proud to be part of something that has the potential to transform care pathways, reduce stigma, and ultimately improve outcomes for people living with anal cancer across all four nations.
- Self-management capability in patients with long-term conditions is associated with reduced healthcare utilisation across a whole health economy: cross-sectional analysis of electronic health records – PubMed
- APPGRT Report May 2025 pdf