We are delighted to announce that Rhiannon Haag, Clinical Lead Speech & Language Therapist, and Michelle Coleman, Highly Specialist Speech & Language Therapist, have been shortlisted for the Advancing Healthcare Awards 2026 – Award for Excellence in Cancer Care for their pioneering project: One Voice: Coproducing a Laryngectomy Pathway in the Community.

This recognition places their work among the most innovative and impactful cancer care initiatives in the UK.

The One Voice project represents a major step forward in how laryngectomy care can be delivered safely, effectively, and compassionately in the community. Developed initially during the pandemic, the team created the UK’s first comprehensive domiciliary laryngectomy service, ensuring that patients could receive high‑quality support at home during an exceptionally challenging time. A laryngectomy is a surgical procedure to remove all or part of the larynx (voice box), usually undertaken to treat cancer or severe damage.

What began as a rapid response to COVID‑19 has since evolved into a fully co‑produced, patient‑centred model shaped by service users, specialist cancer teams, primary care, community services, and academic partners. More than 70% of service users have contributed to the ongoing design and evaluation of the service, sharing over 22 hours of video interviews to help shape improvements.

Through this collaborative approach, four key areas for development were identified:

• Smoother transition from hospital to home
• Improved access to primary care
• Support for adapting to life post‑laryngectomy
• Lifelong access to communication therapy

These co‑design groups have already delivered significant changes, including a redesigned discharge pathway, new primary care training delivered jointly by clinicians and patients, and a holistic communication therapy programme now offered to 80% of patients.

The outcomes of One Voice speak for themselves. The project has:

• Cut in‑pandemic waiting times from 83 days to 5 days
• Reduced time to first post‑discharge visit from 10.5 days to 1.5 days
• Lowered non‑attendance rates by 76%
• Halved the number of review appointments while maintaining patient satisfaction
• Reduced travel mileage by around 50%, supporting environmental sustainability
• Increased the proportion of patients able to self‑manage their valve changes to 45% (compared to 17% elsewhere)
• Delivered potential cost savings of £174,126 in the first-year post‑laryngectomy if scaled nationally

Patients and staff have praised the project for its collaborative ethos and its impact on communication, confidence, and autonomy.

One patient shared:

“It’s good that you’ve got a voice to express the problems you have and there is hope that […] the system gets better and better.”

A staff member added:

“It’s been a really good experience. It’s just a totally different way of thinking about how we develop services. By engaging, we found patients have been more engaging with us at therapy. So, it’s broken down some barriers.”

Rhiannon Haag shared the following reflection on the nomination:

“We are very proud of this innovation and are continuing to work on the associated QI projects, to ensure the service goes from strength to strength. We hope that it can inspire others to think more ambitiously about what types of service can be safely and effectively moved from hospital to the community, improving accessibility and patient experience, in line with the NHS plan.”

The shortlisted team includes Rhiannon Haag, Michelle Coleman, Leo Morgan, Clare Linger, and Patrick Onyema. A huge congratulations to all of them, their hard work, creativity and genuine commitment to co‑production continue to make a real difference for our patients.