What does your organisation do?
We are the only UK charity dedicated to women and their families affected by cervical cancer. We offer information and support to women of all ages and help them to understand the importance of cervical screening.
What has the trust been up to lately?
We recently celebrated our 10-year anniversary. We've also been involved in national Cervical Screening Awareness Week. Cervical cancer is largely preventable, women can reduce their risk by going to screening.
Why don't more women attend screenings?
Earlier this year we commissioned a survey with YouGov to try to understand the reasons why women had ignored or delayed screenings. The main things that came back were issues such as the inflexibility of GP surgery times as well as women finding it hard to take time off work.
How can you help raise the issue?
We're holding the cervical screening awards for UK NHS and voluntary organisations. We recently ran a successful meeting in Northern Ireland with some of the country's politicians, to bring the issue to their attention. We're also getting our supporters to raise awareness in their communities.
Has awareness of cervical cancer improved?
Awareness about cervical cancer has improved, particularly since the death of Jade Goody. Understanding how important cervical screening can be in healthcare prevention has improved a bit, but nowhere near as much as it should have.
What's your biggest challenge?
Trying to get more women to go for screening. We're quite a small charity – our income last year was £300,000 – so it's finding a focused, cost-effective way to invest in campaigns to get more women to go to screening. We also want to reach more health professionals so they know about the support that we can offer their patients.
What do you like best about your job?
I know it's a cliche, but I feel passionately about it because we make a difference every single day. I particularly enjoy working with small charities and making them more effective. When I joined I was the only member of the organisation and now there are four of us, and we've doubled our income.
What's your background?
In the voluntary sector, I've mostly been with healthcare charities; before this I ran a charity called Endometriosis UK. In a previous life I was jeweller, but that was a long time ago.
What's your leadership style?
I believe in giving my team a chance to grow in terms of their careers. It's about being supportive but also giving people the opportunity to take risks and expand their roles and careers.
• This article was amended on 15 June 2011. The heading and caption on the original referred to Richard Music. This has been corrected.
