New UCLH cancer programme director

Jonathan Gardner will be helping to set up tumour pathway specific operational steering groups, with clinical, nursing and operational representatives from the trusts involved in the "Case for Change" plans to improve specialist treatment for brain, prostate and bladder, head and neck, oesophago-gastric and blood cancers in north and east London and west Essex.

Once this work has begun in October 2014, the UCLH cancer programme and stakeholders will work in partnership with other providers across the area, including patients, to develop innovative service models to improve patient care such as providing cancer care at home.

This centralising of specialist cancer pathways has the potential to increase clinical innovation for UCLH and recruitment to UCLH cancer studies.

Under the plans, steering group representatives from Barts Health, Royal Free London, and Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust will report into a tumour unification board. Which itself will report to the trust executive boards and the joint programme board on progress and delivery.