The West Midlands Neuro-Oncology network has gained the prestigious ‘Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence’ status, following rigorous expert-led assessment by the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM).
The network comprises of partnership working between University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, University Hospitals North Midlands NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Birmingham.
The ‘Centre of Excellence’ status has been awarded to the partnership for three years, following an outstanding application which evidenced patient-centred services with a strong focus on research and innovative clinical practice.
In a joint application, the West Midlands team was praised for working together on a stand-out clinical trials portfolio and for its state-of-the-art genomic services, which submits more brain cancer genomes than anywhere else in the country.
The West Midlands Cancer Alliance (WMCA) helped support the ‘Centre of Excellence’ application by bringing together academic co-leads, with the aim of improving the equity of access to services and encouraging the sharing of best practice across sites.
Professor Colin Watts, Chair of the WMCA Brain and Central Nervous Systems (CNS) Expert Advisory Group (EAG), Consultant Neurosurgeon at UHB and Professor of Neurosurgery at UoB, said: “We are delighted to be awarded Centre of Excellence status, especially since it recognises our efforts to build long-standing relationships between different NHS Trusts and research institutions in the region.
“We know that to conduct high impact trials and high quality research we need robust clinical services to build on and I believe we have that here in the Midlands. We hope that the support of the Tessa Jowell Brain Mission will help us to continue to improve both our services and our research.”
Erminia Albanese, Deputy Chair of the WMCA CNS EAG and Consultant Neurosurgeon at UHNM added: “The group have been working together on genomics research for almost a decade. Formalising our partnership will allow us to work more closely to learn from each’s strengths, specifically considering how to deliver therapy-based services more effectively.
“For example, the psychological support in place for brain tumour patients at UHNM has been highly commended and we are keen to share best practice more widely to ultimately help our patients live well with cancer.”
Debra Palmer, Associate Director for Programmes at WMCA, said: “We are thrilled that the West Midlands Neuro-Oncology Network has been recognised as a Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence. This recognition reflects and is testament to the outstanding work and commitment of staff to true partnership working to improve the treatment and care brain tumour patients receive across the Midlands.”
Brain tumours affect more than 12,000 adults in the UK every year and kill more people under the age of 40 than any other cancer. In the absence of a cure, the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM) has committed to ensuring all UK patients with a brain tumour can access the best standard of treatment, care and research, through the Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence initiative. This was described recently by Minister Ashley Dalton as the “main national framework” in UK neuro-oncology.
The ‘West Midlands Centre of Excellence for Neuro-Oncology’ is one of 14 Centres of Excellence that was announced last night (15 May).
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