North East London Cancer Alliance to feature at this year’s HSJ Cancer Forum

We are pleased to announce that the Health Service Journal has asked us to take part in their annual cancer forum, where the focus this year is on building system capacity to support faster diagnosis and early-stage treatment.

The event will take place on 13 March 2024 at the Leonard Royal Hotel in London and it will be the first time that the North East London Cancer Alliance has been involved.

Dr Angela Wong, Chief Medical Officer for the North East London Cancer Alliance, is a guest speaker on the panel for the agenda item at 10.40am which is called ‘expanding capacity and adapting to meet growing demand year on year’.

In the afternoon slot, Femi Odewale, Managing Director for the North East London Cancer Alliance, is on the panel to discuss ‘closing the health inequity gap - access and outcomes’.

Both topics – diagnostic capacity and reducing health inequalities – are key priorities for the cancer alliance and so it is fitting that we have been approached to share our expertise in these areas. Some of the work we are doing in north east London is outlined below.

Angela says “I am really looking forward to discussing such important topics at such an industry-renowned event. The fact we have been asked to take part in this is testament to the hard work we are doing across all our cancer teams in north east London. This is a great opportunity to raise our profile in front of a wide range of major stakeholders in the world of cancer.”

More information about the HSJ Cancer Forum is on their website: https://cancerforum.hsj.co.uk/ and you can register for the event here: https://cancerforum.hsj.co.uk/register

Boosting diagnostic capacity

Here some examples of the work we are doing in north east London:

Mile End Early Diagnosis Centre: Designed by patients for patients, the Mile End Early Diagnosis Centre is an innovative collaboration between all three acute providers (Barts Health; Barking Havering and Redbridge University Trust; and Homerton Healthcare), which is delivering over 16,500 vital cancer tests annually.

MRI Suite: We have added a new MRI suite at Mile End Hospital, which is providing an extra 4,500 scans a year for all residents across north east London.

Community Diagnostic Centres: We have secured additional funding for Mile End Hospital and work is also progressing well on our other CDC for north east London, which is at Barking Community Hospital.

Robotics: King George Hospital is the first in the country to offer a robotic colonoscopy machine. Patients benefit from a painless and non-invasive procedure compared to a traditional colonoscopy and do not require any sedation meaning faster recovery.

Colon Flag: a new NHS-approved blood analysis tool to improve the speed of diagnosis of bowel cancer for our local residents. It works alongside other bowel tests using blood samples to spot cancer earlier.

Cytosponge: a quick, easy test which is a pill on a string and is an alternative to endoscopy. It can help detect and monitor Barrett’s oesophagus and, in rare cases, oesophageal cancer.

AI for Chest X-Ray: Trusts across north east London have supported the development of an innovative solution for immediate AI reporting.

Reducing health inequalities

Our work to reduce inequalities in cancer prevention and awareness includes:

Womb Cancer: We are working in partnership with The Eve Appeal (a leading UK charity raising awareness of, and funding research for, gynaecological cancers) on a campaign called ‘You Need to Know’ which aims to increase awareness of womb cancer amongst Black African, Black Caribbean and South Asian women in North East London. Watch a local volunteer here: https://youtu.be/qSAIoJX93Nk?si=hKefjcCKe9TDrqZN

Best For My Chest: partnering with leading LGBTQI+ cancer charity, OUTpatients to deliver a breast screening campaign aimed at the LGBTQI+ community which features local volunteers. Read a story from one of the local volunteers and watch a video: https://youtu.be/5MfZAlguSKk

Liver Trucks: Community liver health vans are coming to north east London. They offer a free, simple, non-invasive test to people aged 35-70 who may be at increased risk of liver disease, based on their medical history, which will help faster diagnosis for people in areas of deprivation.

Cancer, It’s Not A Game: This is an awareness campaign for prostate, bowel, lung, and stomach cancers, in partnership with brand and marketing agency Mobas, which uses sport to engage with men in the more deprived areas of north east London. This work has been shortlisted for an HSJ Award. Watch a patient story here: https://youtu.be/V1NxwkIeqNM

Jewish Population: North East London Cancer Alliance is working on a cancer awareness project which supports our local Charedi Jewish community. The project provides funding to a local charity, Acheinu Cancer Support (ACS), to drive a programme of cancer awareness, engagement events and communications across north east London 

Engaging with the ‘White Other’ population: Working with Claremont communications team, we delivered a series of 10 focus groups in the Polish, Lithuanian, Turkish and Turkish Cypriot communities to understand knowledge of and barriers to cancer screening within these communities.

For more information

Find out more about the latest work of the North East London Cancer Alliance, visit our webpage.

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