Nearly 250 people from healthcare, local authorities, universities, the voluntary sector, and corporate organisations attended the North Central London Cancer Conference on 19 November where Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive Officer of NHS England, gave the keynote speech.
The event celebrated significant achievements in North Central London in cancer care and the value of partnership working. Announcing the launch of the North Central London Cancer Workforce Strategy, leading clinicians and healthcare leaders recognised the need to go further to ensure that the local health system is sustainable in the face of rising demand. There was also a focus on tackling health inequalities and on ways to improve patient experience.
Watch the conference summary and highlights video.
The NHS CEO flagged North Central London’s achievements in improving one- and five-year cancer survival rates – which are now the best in England – and in delivering a range of innovative programmes and research. These include: YouScreen – HPV self-sampling, targeted lung health checks and cancer screening for people experiencing homelessness. Amanda Pritchard also talked about the new NHS 10-year plan and its focus on disease prevention, local communities, and how digital solutions can be used to improve health.
“We had a wonderful day! There was a brilliant atmosphere and the presence of so many people all thinking about how we can put our great minds together in North Central London. We can achieve so much by working in partnership, bringing together our attributes and skills from different sectors with a common goal and focus on cancer,” said Ali Malik, Managing Director, North Central London Cancer Alliance.
A strategic overview by Frances O’Callaghan, chair of the North Central London Cancer Alliance Board and Chief Executive, North Central London Integrated Care Board, laid out where cancer fits into the local healthcare plan. She celebrated NCL’s cancer survival rates but also focused on the need to address the health inequalities in a diverse population.
Ali Malik illustrated how health benefits and success come through partnership working. He focused on the trajectory of the North Central London targeted lung health check programme, which began in 2019 with the SUMMIT Study. In North Central London lung health checks will soon have been offered to 100 per cent of eligible residents. This focus on lung cancer means that in 2024 46.6% of lung cancers are diagnosed at stages 1 and 2, 20% higher than in 2014.
Recognising the challenge of matching patient experience with the high quality of treatment in North Central London was high on the conference agenda. There was a headline analysis of the latest National Cancer Patient Experience Survey results and examples of initiatives already in progress to improve patient experience such as the PREPARE prehabilitation events programme run by the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
Five stimulating breakout sessions, a lively panel discussion and a large display of posters on North Central London clinical, research and patient support projects also contributed to a successful day.