North East London Cancer Alliance projects recognised at HSJ Awards 2023

Two of our projects were highlighted at a prestigious awards ceremony last week in front of 2,000 people. Our ‘It’s Not A Game’ campaign and our work on the Mile End Early Diagnosis Centre were both nominated at the annual Health Service Journal Awards.

The event took place at Evolution in Battersea Park on Thursday 16 November and was attended by NHS staff from across the country. Although we didn’t’ win, our two projects were mentioned and projected on the screen, which is great recognition of all the hard work which has gone into the projects.

The Awards were hosted by comedian Matt Lucas and showcased the wonderful innovation, collaboration and partnership working taking place across the NHS.

Representing the cancer alliance at the event were:

• Angela Wong, Chief Medical Officer
• Caroline Cook, Programme Lead, Early Diagnosis
• Ellen Quinney, Programme Manager
• Paul Thomas, Communications and Engagement Manger
• Obi Onyiah, Programme Manager for Prevention, Awareness and Screening
• Sherrice Weekes, Project Manager
• Wayne Douglas, Programme Lead, Diagnosis and Treatment

We were also joined on the night by Shaun and Jeanette, our two local patients who starred in our prostate cancer video (pictured below), and Jane Aylott, who has worked so hard on the Mile End Early Diagnosis Centre. Ellen Chesterman and Greg Bryant from Mobas, our media partners, attended as recognition for their outstanding work on It’s Not A Game.

Jeanette and Shaun said “We just wanted to thank you and the team for a lovely time on Thursday. It really was a special night and everyone made us very welcome. You all did an amazing job on the campaign and more than deserved the recognition. Thank you once again.”

The event was truly inspirational and everyone came away pleased with the recognition, and determined to be back next year to win an award!

Below are details of our two projects which featured at the awards:

The Mile End Early Diagnosis Centre

Designed by patients for patients, the Mile End Early Diagnosis Centre is an innovative collaboration between three acute providers (Barts Health; Barking Havering and Redbridge University Trust; and Homerton University Hospitals), which is delivering over 16,500 vital cancer tests a year for residents in north east London.

The first of its kind in the country, the centre is set away from any urgent hospital activities and has its own dedicated entrance and reception area. It provides a warm welcome in a relaxing setting to provide residents with access to vital health tests, which are helping to spot cancer sooner and to save lives.

We have recently added a new MRI suite, which is providing an extra 4,500 scans a year for all residents across north east London.

Read more about the Mile End Early Diagnosis Centre on our webpage and watch a short video about it on our YouTube channel.

Cancer, It’s Not a Game

Cancer, It’s Not a Game is an awareness campaign, in partnership with brand and marketing agency Mobas, which uses sport to engage with men in the more deprived areas of north east London. The campaign aims to increase participation in bowel cancer screening and raise awareness of signs and symptoms of cancers commonly affecting men in north east London for which referrals and screening uptake were lower than expected: bowel, stomach, lung and prostate.

It also aims to address some of the inequalities linked to gender, ethnicity and socio-economic deprivation in participation in cancer screening services, early presentation to GPs with concerning symptoms, and health outcomes.

The campaign resulted in saving someone’s life from prostate cancer. Watch the full story on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/V1NxwkIeqNM

Read more about Cancer, It’s Not A Game, on our webpage.