Cancer Summit 2024

Cancer Summit 2024 – Building on Success

The East of England Cancer Summit was held at Newmarket in September 2024, with thanks to all those who were involved in making the day a success.

We are pleased to share some of the highlights on this page, along with links to further resources, as we continue to evaluate feedback from more than 300 delegates across the region. Partnership working and collaboration with colleagues, patient representatives and charity partners were at the heart of the Cancer Summit's success.

Key outcomes will be taken forward and developed as part of a planned update to the East of England Cancer Strategy, Improving Cancer Services Together, first published in 2022: Strategy :: East of England Cancer Alliance

The aim of the Cancer Summit, led by the East of England Cancer Alliance, was to:

Look to the future regarding workforce, technological, diagnostic and treatment innovations, plus new ways of working
Identify key strategic priorities for the next 12 to 18 months to deliver the East of England Cancer Strategy
Celebrate and share good practice
Network across many different sectors supporting cancer care

The Summit opening address was given by Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England’s Clinical Director For Cancer, who outlined the national programme priorities and highlighted areas of progress in the region, such as the success of FIT (faecal immunochemical testing) to prioritise those at highest risk of bowel cancer, and advances in teledermatology to target those with suspected skin cancer. He also praised work across the region including Norfolk and Waveney's community pharmacy programme.

This was followed by a powerful patient story from Ceinwen Giles, who is CEO at Shine Cancer Support, a charity supporting adults in their 20s to 40s with cancer. Ceinwen is a patient advocate whose work in this sector was preceded by her diagnosis of stage four non-Hodgkin lymphoma six weeks after her daughter was born prematurely.

Ceinwen and Peter joined a panel for a lively Q&A session with East of England Cancer Alliance leads Professor Peter Hoskin, Clinical Director; Dr Peter Holloway, GP lead; Lindsey Cook, interim co-chair of the Patient Partnership Group; Amanda Pleavin, Managing Director, and Kathy Nelson, head of the Cancer Network for Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board.

Workshops were hosted throughout the day by expert teams from across the region, including the planned Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, Health Innovation East and NHS England Cancer Screening.

Each Integrated Care System across the region led a workshop aligned to the Cancer Alliance Strategic Priorities: Norfolk and Waveney; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; Hertfordshire and West Essex; Suffolk and North East Essex; Mid and South Essex and Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes.

Lindsey Cook, interim co-chair of the Patient Partnership Group, led one of the main stage presentations on Understanding Co-production, where patients are involved in the design and delivery of NHS services from the outset.

She said: “The Patient Voice was a key element of the Summit, ensuring that the focus was on improving patient outcomes and experience.”

Suffolk GP Dr Peter Holloway said: “The summit highlighted the importance of increasing awareness of cancer symptoms and encouraging people to come forward earlier, whilst ensuring they have access to primary care and smooth onward pathways.

“Increasing community diagnostic capacity and availability of testing will be crucial in improving early diagnosis.”

The event was hosted by Adam Cayley, NHS East of England’s Regional Senior Responsible Officer For Cancer who reflected that: “We are hugely grateful to all who attended for making the Cancer Summit so valuable in terms of examining where we are now and the best ways to work together on real improvements, from early diagnosis through to treatment and aftercare, that we can set in motion straight away.

“We will be evaluating further to see what can be learned and how we can continue to build the tremendous connections, partnerships and ideas we saw on the day.”

Latest developments in cancer care and support were showcased by a wide range of stalls hosted by NHS and charity teams: Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital; Cancer Support Suffolk; Children’s and Young Adult Cancer Operational Delivery Group for the East of England; Compassionate Companions; East of England Genomic Practitioners; Macmillan Cancer Navigators (East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust and James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust); A digital solution for prehabilitation: East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust; Mount Vernon Cancer Centre; Mouth Cancer Foundation; NHS England Screening and Immunisation Team; OUTpatients; Radiotherapy Operational Delivery Network; Salivary Gland Cancer UK and Suffolk GP Federation’s Very Important Invitation.

For further information or to provide feedback on the Cancer Summit, please contact: cpicb.eoecancerallianceteam@nhs.net

Image of Lindsey Cook