Helping people affected by cancer in the Welsh Valleys

In the Welsh coalfields, people look out for each other. But a cancer diagnosis can also bring practical and emotional pressures at the moment people most need reassurance, understanding and support close to home. 

The Next Steps for the Valleys report (2025) highlights just how stark the health picture can be. Average life expectancy in the Valleys is two years less than the average for Wales and for Great Britain. The report also shows that 8.5% of residents aged 16+ report ‘bad or very bad’ health, compared with 6.9% across Wales, and that 13.3% of all residents claim disability benefits (DLA/PIP), compared with 10.5% across Wales. 

That’s why we’re working with Macmillan Cancer Support through the CRT Together programme. Our link workers provide tailored, non-clinical support for people affected by cancer — including families and carers — across the Cwm Taf Morgannwg and Aneurin Bevan health board areas. 

Mac is one of the people supported through CRT Together. After being told he had rectal cancer, he picked up a leaflet in his local library and got in touch. He says the support “filled me with positivity” because “these are real people. They’re local”. 

Alex arranged to meet Mac at the local library, close to his home. Together, they talked through what CRT was, what support was available, and the practical help he might need — including moral support, advice and a plan around day-to-day pressures. Mac also found it comforting that Alex kept checking in by text to ask how he was and whether he needed anything. 

Mac says the experience has now “come a full circle”. Although he did not need transport himself, he has since become a volunteer driver with Rowan Cancer Trust. He now tells other people about CRT Together and the value of having someone local who can listen, answer questions and help signpost them to the right support more quickly. 

Working together, CRT and Macmillan — alongside local third sector partners, health and social care professionals, and local authorities — are helping to tackle the systemic health inequalities experienced by former coalfield communities. 

If you want to talk about cancer support in Wales’s former coalfield communities, contact the CRT Wales team:  
Message via coalfieldsregen.uk/contact