Bio & Writing for Change

Bio

As a 2x cancer survivor before the age of 35, Laura experienced the lack of information that exists after treatment finishes herself. Deciding to do something about it, she founded the only national charity dedicated to supporting those recovering from cancer - Mission Remission!

She's a secondary school English teacher and has specialised in community-building, parental involvement, and narratives for change in education. Over the last six years, she's transferred her skills to the wonderful world of heath.

Change Work

Since founding Mission Remission, she regularly speaks at conferences and supports health organisations to refocus on what’s actually important: serving people and improving their lives. She’s been a CCG lay member championing patient involvement; a trustee for the Patients Association, leads health data projects from a patient perspective; provides strategy consultancy to trusts, CCGs, and national organisations; and has run international projects in Africa. 

As the community lead for the development of the national LHCR dataset (apologies for ghastly NHS jargon - it's all about making sure the right info is shared between different health providers), and working with the PRSB, the national record standard body, she’s aimed to refocus data strategy on outcomes that matter to people.

Something's Not Right

She waited fifteen months for her first cancer diagnosis after 9 GP appointments, being repeatedly passed from one department to another and being turned away from A&E. She’s now a passionate health campaigner, writing for The Guardian, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, along with health journals like the HSJ and organisations like the Kings Fund. She also runs Mission Remission’s early diagnosis campaign, Something’s Not Right, calling for policy changes to prevent cancer delays.

Writing for Change

Here is a selection of pieces she's written: 

HSJ - The Need for a Digital Patient Strategy

The Telegraph - On Resilience and Covid-19

The Telegraph - Helping a Friend with Cancer

Daily Mail - What is 'Scanxiety'

HSJ - How Data Can Improve Lives

HSJ - A Community of Advocates

Daily Mail - Why Life After Cancer can be Nearly as Hard as Diagnosis

The Telegraph - Forget Social Media

The Telegraph - Making Criticism of the NHS Taboo

HSJ - Why Patients Need to Understand the NHS

HSJ - Release the Cancer Cash