North Central London and RM Partners NHS Cancer Alliances are delighted to have been selected as one of six National Trailblazer sites, announced on 16 September, for a programme of work that will cover 19 London boroughs where around 23,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year.
The Trailblazer programme is led and funded by Macmillan Cancer Support, Social Finance and West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, and aims to support areas across England to design, test and prepare investable neighbourhood health models that strengthen prevention, improve outcomes and build long-term sustainability through new forms of partnership and social investment.
Working in partnership with people with lived experience, and diverse range of partners including exercise providers, voluntary sector organisations NCLCA and RM Partners will develop CAN-DO (Cancer-focussed Assessment, Navigation and Delivery for Optimal Wellbeing). It will be a digitally enabled, neighbourhood-based model of cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation, which puts access and autonomy in the hands of patients. The ambition is for people affected by cancer in each of the 19 boroughs to access the support they need to prepare for, receive treatment for, and live well beyond cancer.
By working across the London areas covered by both Cancer Alliances transformation can be delivered at scale. The footprint covers around 65% of London’s population, serving approximately 5.8 million residents.
Ali Malik and Susan Sinclair, Managing Directors of the North Central London Cancer Alliance and RM Partners – NW & SW London Cancer Alliance, said:
“We are incredibly proud to have been selected as a Trailblazer site. This programme gives us an exciting opportunity to work collaboratively with our partners and communities to develop a new approach to cancer prehabilitation and rehabilitation at scale and learn from the other sites across the country. By bringing together the expertise of those with lived experience, communities, NHS, local government, the voluntary and community sector, we will simplify and improve access, tackle health inequalities and help more people affected by cancer achieve the best possible outcomes before, during and after treatment.
“We are looking forward to working alongside fellow Trailblazer sites and our national partners over the coming months as we develop and test new approaches to neighbourhood-based cancer care.”
Read the announcement from the Department of Health and Social Care