Great Ormond Street Hospital NHS Foundation Trust welcomes the launch of a groundbreaking new way to organise the treatment of NHS cancer patients in London, which experts predict could help to save up to a thousand lives in the capital every year.
In future, London’s cancer services will be run by two new bodies – known as Integrated Cancer Systems – based on a similar model in the US, recognised as an international gold standard for cancer care.
The first and only ones of their kind in the UK, the new systems bring together all the cancer care providers across the capital and beyond, using their joint resources and expertise to provide the best possible outcome for every patient.
With UCLH, Great Ormond Street Hospital is the third largest centre for children with cancer/leukaemia in the western world and largest in Europe. We treat patients who are 0-11 years old while UCLH also treats patients over 12 years old.
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust is looking forward to working closely with the Children and Young People Pathway of London Cancer.
Chief Executive Dr Jane Collins said:
“We’re very happy to work with other centres to look at how we can make care more effective.
“Children’s cancer already shows some of the advantages of closer cooperation that London Cancer aspires to. Seventy per cent of children with cancer are on clinical trials as opposed to under 20% of adults. London children’s cancer services deliver similar clinical outcomes to those outside London – there isn’t a London gap. And at GOSH 97% of our families would recommend us to another family - figures that are roughly the same for all our services.
“But there are issues where we can improve and collaboration and research will be the way forward.”
Key to the success of the Integrated Cancer System will be its push to get anyone with cancer symptoms to visit their GP immediately and for them to be referred for further investigation without delay.
London Cancer serves 3.5 million people in north central and north east London and west Essex working alongside London Cancer Alliance, which serves the remaining parts of the capital. It brings together community, primary, secondary and tertiary care providers in a formal governance structure, which also harnesses the expertise of leading cancer academics and charities.
