Mims Davies MP welcomes the launch of NHS England’s (London and South East regions) public consultation on proposals for the future location of very specialist cancer treatment services for children who live in South London and much of South East England. This consultation will help NHS England decide where the proposed future Principal Treatment Centre for these children should be.
Children’s cancer centres (known as Principal Treatment Centres) provide diagnosis, treatments, and coordination of very specialist care for children aged 15 and under with cancer. There are 13 of them in England. The current Children’s Cancer Centre (covering South London, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, Kent and Medway and most of Surrey) is provided in partnership between The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust at its site in Sutton and St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust at St George’s Hospital in Tooting. It treats about 1,400 children, most aged one to 15, at any given time.
Around 1,400 children, almost all aged one to 15, are under the care of the Principal Treatment Centre for south London and much of South East England at any given time. (It will continue to care for older children if that is best for individual patients.)
There are several ways for the public, members of staff, key partners, and stakeholders to share their views during the consultation period. This includes online public events, a survey, focus groups, targeted interviews and community meetings. The consultation will run from Tuesday 26th September - Monday 18th December 2023.
In 2021, a new national service specification set out that very specialist cancer treatment services for children – like those at The Royal Marsden – must be on the same site as a level 3 children’s intensive care unit. This is because children being treated for cancer are sometimes at risk of needing urgent intensive care. With future, cutting-edge treatments being developed for children with cancer, intensive care and other specialised children’s services will increasingly be required to be on the same site.
The public consultation launched proposes two options for the location of the future Principal Treatment Centre:
- Evelina London Children’s Hospital in Lambeth, South East London, run by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
- St George’s Hospital, in Tooting, South West London, run by St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Please visit their website to read the consultation document and find out more.