FAQs

At the moment we anticipate developing options between now and April 2021. As part of this we are working with local Integrated Care Systems, CCGs, other providers and Cancer Alliances, to understand the needs of the large population Mount Vernon cancer services serve, any variations in outcomes, access issues and more, as well as working on the feasibility of potential options – for example, whether a potential site has the necessary clinical support available, and identifying the costs and how we will pay for the new building work. We will only shortlist options that are possible.

We expect to run a formal 12-week public consultation starting in June 2021. Only once the feedback from public consultation has been fully considered can a final decision be made. This would be around November 2021.

No – the Programme Board honestly do not know what the recommendations will be in December and in March. Logically it makes sense that moving the hospital a long way will not be an option.

Satellite radiotherapy in North Hertfordshire or South Bedfordshire could be considered in most options. However, in the ambulatory hub option, it is likely to be necessary for the satellite radiotherapy centre and ambulatory hub to be on the same site, and the do minimum option may mean a new satellite radiotherapy service is developed only as the service moves off the MVCC site as the service is not large enough to spread across three sites.

• Full replacement and focussed development of a comprehensive Cancer Centre Hub better enables structured delivery of a networked model of care.  The choice of any ambulatory ‘spokes’ of this service can then be assessed based on population need, not a legacy location, and delivered in partnership with local referring hospitals.
• Full replacement, consolidation and clinical adjacencies ensures the clinical infrastructure to enable repatriation of specialist cancer services work from central London (notably UCLH)
• Access to medical and surgical specialty support benefits the full range of cancer care – inpatient and outpatient, and ensures certain patient groups are not disadvantaged. The increasing complexity of cancer care alongside the increasing requirement to manage cancer patients with additional co-morbidities make these clinical adjacencies increasingly critical to a specialist cancer centre.
• Critical mass and the specialist cancer workforce – delivery of the future clinical model hinges on the specialist cancer workforce; ensuring a model which is attractive to staff in terms of the clinical specialism, experience, training and development and research opportunities is key. Education and training opportunities are particularly enhanced by a comprehensive Cancer Centre hub.  In addition, to ensure it is possible to have the full range of very specialist multi-professional staff supporting complex cancer pathways, a certain size of service is needed.  
• Future-proofing – consolidation of services on a site adjacent to and connected to acute hospital facilities gives the best opportunity to future proof the service to respond to the as yet unknown future requirements of specialist cancer care.