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Consultation on children's cancer services

NHS England’s public consultation on the new Principal Treatment Centre for children's cancer services

In November 2022, Evelina London Children’s Hospital submitted a proposal to become the new Principal Treatment Centre (PTC) for children's cancer services for south London and most of south east England. To make sure that everyone who wants to can share their views for the new centre, NHS England – London is reaching out to children, teenagers, families, staff, communities and other stakeholders from across the region and beyond, to ask them to get involved.

We believe Evelina London’s proposal is a once in a generation opportunity to bring together the leading children’s cancer experts with our existing world-class specialist paediatric team to create the comprehensive children’s hospital our region needs and deserves.

Share your views

NHS England have launched a public consultation on 2 options: Evelina London Children’s Hospital and St George’s University Hospital.

Evelina London is NHS England’s preferred option at this stage in the process and they are keen to hear your views on the NHS England website.

The consultation closes on Monday 18 December 2023.

NHS England – London will make its final decision on the location of the new centre after hearing the views that come forward during the public consultation and taking account of all other relevant factors.

Watch a film about Evelina London’s proposal 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 

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.

More information

For more information on the NHS England – London public consultation process and to share your views, visit the NHS England website.

Our frequently asked questions page has more information about the children's cancer services consultation.

Read more about our proposal (Word 258 KB).

If you would like to contact the team at Evelina London regarding our proposal for the children’s cancer principal treatment centre, please email elchengagement@gstt.nhs.uk.

If you would like to contact the team at NHS England who are running this project, please email england.childrenscancercentre@nhs.net.

Respond to the public consultation

Find out more about the children's cancer service plans and share your views on the NHS England website.

Find out more

Our frequently asked questions page has more information about the children's cancer services consultation.

Read our staff blogs

  • Sujeev is a consultant in paediatric cardiology, running cardiac clinics for children with cancer.
  • Gráinne is an advanced nurse practitioner in our kidney transplant team. 
  • Ming is a paediatric neurologist who makes sure Evelina London continues to have the highest level of participation in research.  
  • Sue is a play specialist manager. Learn how her team support children and young people visiting our hospital and using our services.