Our story

We’re here for families affected by childhood cancer in Wales, providing bespoke emotional, practical and financial support.

Our charity is based at the Children’s Hospital for Wales in Cardiff, which means we are here when families need us most. We support children with cancer and those undergoing cancer-like treatment who are under the care of the Paediatric Oncology Principal Treatment Centre in Wales at the Children’s Hospital.

We provide free accommodation in the hospital that keeps families together when their lives are turned upside down. 

Families affected by childhood cancer face extra expenses, from travel costs to increased heating bills. Our grants help to relieve this financial pressure.

Our dedicated social workers, based in the hospital, help families feel less isolated. They listen to families, represent them at medical team meetings and help them access benefits. Social workers also connect families, including siblings, with our fun hospital and community activities. Along with the annual holidays we provide for families, these create memories and improve wellbeing.

Latch social workers also provide sensitive support to bereaved families. Sadly, cancer is still the leading cause of death by disease among children and young people in the UK.

We influence health policy, fund hospital facilities and support healthcare professionals so that children affected by cancer have better experiences, care and outcomes.

We contributed funding towards the children’s cancer wards at the Children’s Hospital for Wales and paid for them to be refurbished. Every child now has their own room in the Rainbow Ward, providing privacy for families and improving their healthcare experience.

Latch also funds childhood cancer research, focusing on treatment, children’s experiences and improving their quality of life. Our funding helped establish a research centre dedicated to advancing new cancer treatments for children in Wales.

We couldn’t be here for families affected by childhood cancer in Wales without our amazing supporters, which include a growing network of local Latch fundraisers.

Latch strategy and brand refresh

In January 2025 we launched the charity’s new three-year Strategy and vision; to see families affected by childhood cancer get the help and care they need, and never face the journey alone.

At Latch we know that children with cancer and their families have complex and unique needs, and they often experience a long, gruelling and uncertain journey.

They can face barriers to support, including times when their voices are not heard by the systems around them. We want to see this change.

September 2025, we started a new chapter in the history of the charity. We unveiled a brand refresh which included a new visual identity, tag line and new meaning to our charity name.      

The name LATCH, (written in upper case), was an acronym for Llandough Aims to Treat Children with Cancer and Leukaemia with Hope. However, the charity in 2025 no longer resides at Llandough, and so it wasn’t clear how relevant the name ‘LATCH’ was anymore and into the future.  

And so, our name continues to be ‘Latch’, but with a different meaning from its origination in the 1980s.

The mark is made up of a heart, person and wrapping arms. Each element becomes synonyms with the other creating a mark that captures the essence of Latch’s work.

Our new logo text is in lower case to give the feeling of being approachable and the typeface is custom cut, creating a soft flowing feel to the logo.

The new logo mark, the Latch ‘heart hug’ reinforces the idea of being with you – centred around the idea of wrap-around, gentle, and holistic care that supports, understands and guides.

The word “Here” is at the heart of everything Latch stands for as a charity.

Latch is here in many ways for our families and for cancer support in Wales. Whether it is providing hands-on help for families or raising awareness of the needs of children with cancer and their families, Latch is always here.

Our refreshed brand builds on the charity’s strong forty-year history rooted in the communities of South, East, West and Mid Wales but allows for a stronger, more recognisable and confident brand that will support and help the charity to achieve the change we want to see for children with cancer and their families in Wales.

40th anniversary

Our history

Founded in 1983 by families and friends who recognised that children with cancer and their families required more than medical care, Latch originally supported social, and welfare needs to ease financial and emotional burdens. At that time, the Children’s Oncology Unit was based in Llandough Hospital. The late, Dr Eileen Thompson MBE, MD, FRCP, DCH, Senior Paediatric Oncologist, was a founding member and driving force behind Latch. 

Key milestones since then include: 

• The next milestone was expanding the charity remit to allow purchasing of medical equipment, including the first CT scanner for the unit
• In the late 1980’s Latch funded the cost of building a bone marrow transplant room and paid the costs of the first five transplants for children in Wales.
• Funding the first two community-based care with nurses providing home treatments and palliative care
• Opening a two-storey 15-bed unit in 1995 to at the Children’s Hospital for Wales meet the needs of both younger children and teenagers
• Introduction of a social worker to provide practical and emotional support
• Launching a pioneering paediatric palliative medicine post
• Expanding hospital accommodation and outpatient facilities in 2002
• Raised £800,000 to add an extra floor to the children’s hospital for parent accommodation at the Children’s Hospital for Wales in 2005
• £1.2 Million was donated in 2021 to refurbish the Rainbow Ward at the Children’s Hospital for Wales. The redesign added single-unit beds for privacy and infection control, a large playroom and family room, and ambient lighting and entertainment to create a calm, comfortable environment. New central staff areas improve how teams respond to children’s needs.