[Skip to content]

.

Children's Cancer Services

Our vision

We said care for children will be provided as close to the home as possible within settings that are easily accessible for families. Only emergency/urgent care and highly specialised care will be delivered from a hospital setting and they will be looked after in a child-friendly environment by suitably trained and experienced staff.

University Hospitals Leicester NHS Trust and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust are both highly respected children’s cancer centres that operate with the support of a range of other service providers from the public, independent and voluntary sectors. Both centres offer a range of specialist skills and expertise. Some of these overlap but others are unique and complimentary. Both centres also offer a range of other specialised services for children.

 

Why we're changing the way we manage children’s cancer care

New national guidelines came out in 2005 which specified how children’s cancer care should be organised and delivered.

The guidelines state that for a hospital to be classed as a Centre of Excellence for children’s cancer care it must see a minimum of 80 new cases each year.  Currently, Leicester sees on average 30 new cases each year and Nottingham 80 new cases each year.

In order to meet the new standards, some services need to be grouped together in one place where there are enough very specialist doctors, nurses, other staff, facilities and equipment.

As well as the centre of excellence we need to further develop the cancer care available to children at our other hospitals around the East Midlands so that they receive the highest possible quality of care delivered to the same standards. 

Meanwhile, in the community, children’s cancer outreach nurses already provide an excellent service. However, they are currently under-resourced and access to them is patchy. The service needs to be co-ordinated centrally and developed across the whole of the East Midlands to ensure that patients receive adequate support once they leave hospital. This will in turn support a more timely discharge from hospital and also, potentially, reduce the need for re-attendance or re-admission. 

Further support is also required for palliative care. Currently, too many children die in hospital because they cannot be supported adequately at home.

 

What we're doing

We are looking at how we can create a single, integrated service for the East Midlands where we can co-ordinate all referrals. This will ensure that children are looked after effectively from the start to the end of their care, in a timely and efficient manner, ensuring that the right resources are available at the right time.

In addition, we are working with clinical teams, patients and their families to improve services for teenagers and young people with cancer. This work will focus on meeting the specific needs of teenagers and young people and improving the facilities in which they are treated. We are fortunate in having the support and involvement of the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) to achieve this. The TCT has already agreed to invest in upgrading facilities at Nottingham and Leicester to create an environment which is specifically suited to the needs of this age group. We will also be working closely with patients and their families to make sure that we know what they want and can respond to this.

 

Benefits for children and their families

  • Creating a single, integrated service which is accessible to all children with cancer in the East Midlands will better their chances of getting well again.

  • A new integrated service will also mean more children can be treated closer to home with appropriate support from expert doctors and nurses.

  • The particular needs of young people with cancer will be better met and they will be looked after in environments which are more suitable for their age.

children's cancer

 Other useful links:

Teenage Cancer Trust