At a public meeting on 14 March 2024, NHS England selected Evelina London Children's Hospital as the future location for very specialist cancer treatment services for children living in south London and much of south east England.
Throughout the NHS England-led process we have provided detailed evidence to show how Evelina London is best placed to provide high quality care, research and support to children and young people with cancer.
Bringing together staff from the current Principal Treatment Centre, including the world-renowned team from The Royal Marsden, with the many specialist teams at Evelina London who already care for children with complex medical conditions, will provide joined up and innovative care for children with cancer, in family-friendly facilities.
We remain fully committed to working with patients, their families, staff from the current service, and other partners to design the new service with children, young people and staff at its heart, to ensure continuity of care during the transition period and to agree a plan for the transfer of the service.
You can read more about this decision on the NHS England website.
Watch a film about Evelina London’s plans for children's cancer services
Our Medical Director, Dr Sara Hanna, explains more about the services Evelina London currently provides and our vision for the future children's cancer service in south London and south east England
I'm Sara Hanna, and I'm medical director of Evelina London. At Evelina London, we have been passionate about providing the best possible care to children and their families for more than 150 years.
We can do this because of our 4,000 dedicated and compassionate staff spanning more than 30 specialist areas. No other children's hospital in the region offers that breadth and scale of expertise dedicated to children, and that's why we believe we are uniquely placed to deliver care to those children with cancer who require the most complex treatment.
We have 50 specialist children's surgeons operating within 10 theatres, more children in research studies than any hospital in London, and our exceptional facilities mean our teams can extend pioneering research of new cancer therapies to children.
We have the region's only kidney and heart services undertaking the most complex operations and 24/7 access to child-friendly, state-of-the-art imaging facilities, some of which are not found elsewhere in the UK.
Our critical care transport service safely moves the sickest children from their local hospitals for intensive care, including children with cancer. Our doctors and nurses provide advice, education, and training to every hospital in the region so treatment can start even before our teams arrive.
The design of the hospital was inspired by children and families, bright and friendly spaces, with plenty of places to play. We have overnight accommodation for 60 families in our Ronald McDonald House.
We will design the cancer facility, including dedicated parking and a transport service, together with families and staff. Our Trust has a long history of cancer services at Guy's Hospital, already treating teenagers and young adults.
We believe we will provide the best care for children and young people with cancer and the highly skilled staff that support them.
Watch a video addressing some of the frequently asked questions about the future children’s cancer service
Our Medical Director, Dr Sara Hanna, answers frequently asked questions about the move of the children's cancer PTC.
As the region's only dedicated children's hospital, we really understand how tough it is to be the family member of a seriously unwell child, and how important it is that children can easily access the specialist care they need.
We also know that parents and patients might be anxious about what the proposed changes to the Principal Treatment Centre may mean for their care.
We want to help put their minds at ease.
The current children's cancer service is not closing.
It is moving to a new hospital.
The vast majority of the existing children's team at the Royal Marsden will move too, meaning children and their families will continue to be supported by the clinicians they know and they trust.
At Evelina London we already care for children with cancer.
We provide specialist heart and kidney care to the current Principal Treatment Centre, and our Intensive Care Ambulance Team transfers the sickest children with cancer between hospitals, including transferring children between the Royal Marsden and St George's.
As well as state-of-the-art facilities, our plans involve making travelling to the new centre as worry-free as possible.
This includes a fleet of cars that will collect children from their homes wherever they live, bring them to the hospital and drive them safely home afterwards.
There will also be free, bookable parking for families who travel in their own car, a drop-off zone right outside the door and hassle-free reimbursement of ULEZ and congestion charging.
Moving the Children's Cancer Centre provides a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build on what the exceptional teams at the Royal Marsden already do.
Evelina London is the only option that can offer children access to a broad range of paediatric experts 24 hours a day, and we have been independently assessed as offering the best opportunity to advance children's cancer research.
Bringing the Principal Treatment Centre to Evelina London will mean that children with cancer in our region will benefit from being cared for in a dedicated children's hospital, just like every other child with cancer in the UK.
This is what children in our region deserve.
Why Evelina London for children's cancer care
We believe we're uniquely placed to provide the best care, research and support to children and young people with cancer, and their families.
World-class
Evelina London is the only option that will mean the new children’s cancer services are based at a dedicated children's hospital. This will align our region with the rest of the country and international best practice, making sure that children and their families have access to the best possible clinical expertise.
Clinical research
We can immediately begin new children's cancer clinical research studies and offer the latest immune therapies (like CAR-T), both essential for the future of children's cancer care. We have 2 dedicated children’s research wards and a specialist children’s research team already working on more than 180 children’s research studies with academic partners worldwide.
Family support
We understand how tough it is to be the family member of a seriously unwell child.
To support families, we'll offer:
- free, dedicated parking for the new children’s cancer centre (matching the capacity at the current centre)
- support with the cost of travel
- free bedside overnight accommodation in most areas, including 60 rooms in our dedicated Ronald McDonald House for longer stays
Connected
Our children's intensive care ambulance service looks after some of the sickest children in south east England, making sure they are in the right place to receive the highly specialist care they need. We also deliver over 1,000 clinics a year in local hospitals, bringing our specialist expertise closer to where children live. Our clinical education team help to train staff at every other hospital in the region.
Evelina London Children's Hospital is an award-winning, outstanding rated hospital that has been co-designed by children and families to be bright, friendly, and offer plenty of places to play.
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about our wonderful children's hospital and our vision for the future of children's cancer care in south London and most of south east England.
Background
On 21 June 2023, NHS England published an update on proposed new locations for a principle treatment centre for children's cancer services for south London and most of south east England. It sets out how children’s cancer services should be organised and delivered across the country in the future. Among other things, it requires all children’s cancer principal treatment centres to be on the same site as a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and other specialised children’s services such as paediatric surgery relevant to children’s cancer care.
Currently, the children's cancer principal treatment centre covering the catchment area of south London and most of south east England is provided by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and and some children may also receive care at St George’s Hospital in Tooting. The Royal Marsden does not have a paediatric intensive care unit on-site, which means that some children are currently safely transferred between The Royal Marsden and St George's Hospital every year.
These arrangements need to change to make sure that children with cancer continue to get world-leading care in London.
Options appraisal process
Evelina London Children’s Hospital, which is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, and St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust both submitted proposals to become the new children's cancer Principal Treatment Centre, providing all the required services on one site.
Over 30 experts, including clinical advisers, parents, charities, nurses and research staff, evaluated the proposals as part of an options appraisal process designed by NHS England – London and shaped by a range of stakeholders. They looked at different aspects of the proposals to understand:
- how the proposals would deliver the service in the future, compared to what happens currently
- what each would mean for patients, families and staff delivering clinical care
- how the proposals would deliver the clinical aspects of care
- how the proposals would support research that underpins future improvement
Evelina London scored higher overall and in 3 out of the 4 areas assessed, including how we would deliver the clinical service and our capability and track record for vital clinical research. Evelina London is the preferred option at this stage in the process.
Public consultation by NHS England
A public consultation was launched by NHS England on Tuesday 26 September and ran until Monday 18 December 2023. NHS England received 2,669 formal responses which have been analysed and the findings have now been published. Read the consultation report.
NHS England's decision
On Thursday 14 March 2024 leaders for NHS England (London and South East regions) selected Evelina London Children's Hospital to be the future location of the Principal Treatment Centre for children's cancer services.
We are fully committed to working with patients, their families, staff from the current service, and other partners to design the new service with children, young people and staff at its heart, and to ensure continuity of care during the transition period.
More information
For more information about the future children's cancer services visit the NHS England website.
Our frequently asked questions page has more information about our plans for the future children's cancer services.
Read more about our plans (Word 258KB).
If you would like to contact us please email ELCHEngagement@gstt.nhs.uk.