Patient and public involvement (PPI) is crucial in healthcare and can be achieved in various ways. This article reports on two PPI projects at a cancer trust aimed at eliciting patients’ views on educational materials, using focus groups as engagement forums. The first focus group was conducted to inform staff educational materials in the trust’s senior adult oncology programme project. The second focus group was conducted to inform patient educational materials used during systemic anticancer therapy pre-treatment consultations. The findings of each focus group have been integrated into the respective educational materials. The authors suggest that using focus groups is feasible and can be effective for involving patients in the development of educational materials; however, they recommend considering the risk of distress and re-traumatisation among participants.