Governance

National Cancer Board

The National Cancer Board oversees the NHS Cancer Programme as a whole, bringing together representatives from NHS England and Improvement, Public Health England, Health Education England, the Department for Health and Social Care, Cancer Alliance leaders and charity chief executives. It is chaired by Dame Cally Palmer, National Cancer Director.

The Board have been focused on maintaining and recovering cancer services since the pandemic hit, considering the future cancer workforce needs and adapting key Long Term Plan projects so they can continue and best support recovery.

Cancer Charity Forum

The Cancer Charity Forum brings cancer charities together to advise on and guide the delivery of NHS Cancer Programme work. It is chaired by Lynda Thomas, Chief Executive of Macmillan Cancer Support.

Two Charity Forum meetings have taken place in this time period 4 March 2021 and 16 June 2021 with around 60 members in attendance. Discussions included:

  • the latest position of cancer services
  • actions to support cancer recovery
  • an update on our work on the Government’s White Paper (Integration and innovation Working together to improve health and social care for all) and addressing health inequalities.

Clinical Advisory Group

The national Clinical Advisory Group (CAG) brings together a multidisciplinary range of clinical  experts from across the country, with patient and public representation, to advise, enable and support implementation of the NHS Long Term Plan to improve cancer outcomes and services.

The Group provide clinical advice on overall delivery of the NHS Cancer Programme, as well as helping to lead implementation of specific projects and priorities.

The CAG is chaired by the National Clinical Director for Cancer, Peter Johnson. The Group meet quarterly with the most recent meeting taking place in June.

The CAG has provided clinical insight and advice to projects and teams across the programme, including:

  • Providing clinical expertise for the development of an advisory document, outlining how urgent cancer diagnostic pathways could be adapted in response to the COVID 19 pandemic
  • Supporting the Cytosponge Working Group to advise on the implementation plan for Cytosponge, an innovative new test for Barrett’s oesophagus a condition that can increase a person’s risk of developing oesophageal cancer
  • Supporting the Rapid Diagnostic Centres (RDC) Task Finish Group to agree delivery requirements for RDCs across the country in 2021 22 including achieving 50 population coverage for non site specific RDC(s).

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