Pancreatic Cancer Action & Pancreatic Cancer Scotland announce intention to merge

Pancreatic Cancer Action & Pancreatic Cancer Scotland have announced their intention to merge. This year marks the 10th anniversary for both charities, which were founded in 2010 to address a need for a pancreatic cancer charity focusing on improving symptom awareness, early diagnosis and patient care in Scotland and the UK. The charities have a shared vision of making this the decade for change for pancreatic cancer, driven by a need to improve survival rates. The two charities will continue initially as separate entities, before eventually merging into one organisation, subject to approval from Office of The Scottish Charity Regulator. It is anticipated that Ali Stunt will be the Chief Executive Officer of the merged organisation, with Fiona Brown managing the Scotland office. Stunt is the founder and CEO of Pancreatic Cancer Action, and a 12-year survivor of pancreatic cancer. Glasgow-based Fiona Brown is currently Development Manager of Pancreatic Cancer Scotland, and lost her mother to the illness. Currently, Pancreatic Cancer Action has 13 members of staff and Pancreatic Cancer Scotland has 3, and there will be no redundancies. While awaiting OSCR’s approval to formally merge, the charities will work to develop their joint fundraising activities, branding and the combined organisations' future vision, strategy and action plans. Stunt said: “My ambition remains the same, as it did 10 years ago, that more people are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer sooner, in time for surgery to be possible. This is what happened to me, but it was more a matter of luck and circumstance that afforded me the early diagnosis and, once understanding the statistics of this disease, I discovered that chance isn’t something one can rely on to get diagnosed early.” “By coming together, both charities know we can make greater strides in making our vision, a day when everyone is diagnosed early and survives pancreatic cancer, a reality. The pancreatic cancer charity world is very fragmented; this merger will reduce any potential duplication of effort and resources and means we can make a bigger impact.” Brown added: “The intention to merge will strengthen and grow our combined activities, enabling us to add more value, take more action and drive positive change: by coming together the 2020’s will be the decade of change for pancreatic cancer.”   Main image: Fiona Brown (left) & Ali Stunt

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