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Two years after new concerns were raised about the future of Mount Vernon Cancer Centre services; a bid for funding for a new Cancer Centre has been submitted to the UK Government.

The bid is for £260m to build a new Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (MVCC) in Watford and a satellite radiotherapy unit in either Luton or Stevenage. Changes are also proposed to develop a chemotherapy unit at Hillingdon Hospital and enhance chemotherapy services at Northwick Park Hospital as part of improving care closer to home for patients served by the specialist cancer service of Mount Vernon, in response to feedback from patients.

The new centre and units will replace the existing Mount Vernon Cancer Centre in Northwood, Hillingdon. The proposal has been developed with patients, local people, cancer centre staff, other health professionals and voluntary groups following the conclusion of an Independent Clinical Review in 2019 which said that services could not stay as they are. Co-location with the broader medical and surgical specialties in an acute hospital is considered essential for provision of modern, specialist cancer services.

The bid has been submitted to the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the UK Government’s New Hospital Programme. Eight hospitals schemes will be funded via this programme following an expression of interest and decision process. A final decision on which schemes will be selected is due in the Spring (2022).

Professor Peter Hoskins, a Consultant in Clinical Oncology at Mount Vernon Cancer Centre since 1992, said “Whilst our staff deliver the best care they can to our patients, the new cancer centre will result in a major improvement for cancer patients in the area. It will be the most important build of this nature in the UK, and bring security for cancer services for patients within the area for the next 50 years”.

Doing nothing or doing the minimum on the current site and in the current facilities has been ruled by out clinicians and managers as the service would not be able to survive without the onsite medical support it needs to deliver modern specialist cancer services, and in buildings which are more than a century old and plagued with problems.

An alternative option of closing the Cancer Centre and dispersing the services to the next nearest specialist cancer centres is not desired by managers or clinicians, and has been branded “unacceptable” by patient representatives who say it would increase journey times and costs, especially for disadvantaged communities, break up services, increase pressure on other hospitals and be very expensive.

A representative of the Mount Vernon Patient Reference Group said; “This is a fantastic opportunity to develop something that truly meets the needs of patients and improves their experiences - reducing traveling times, improving choice and treatment options and giving patients an opportunity to help design the new services. It's the only option that will meet patients’ needs in the future.”

They added, “Any capital investment on a complete new initiative would not only in the long run save the NHS money but improve the quality of people’s lives too.”

Mount Vernon Cancer Centre is one of the largest cancer facilities in the country and provides non-surgical cancer treatments for patients from a catchment area including Hertfordshire and significant parts of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and North West London.

The bid process was led by UCLH, in collaboration with commissioners, the six Integrated Care Systems that refer to Mount Vernon Cancer Centre and East and North Herts NHS Trust who manage the centre. UCLH took this role as once firm proposals for Mount Vernon Cancer Centre’s future are agreed, in line with one of the Independent Clinical Review recommendations, UCLH is due to take over running the Cancer Centre. This change in management is subject to due diligence and UCLH’s board approval.

The Mount Vernon Cancer Centre Review Programme Board met in May and has released the latest update. In it, you will find a recap of why the review is needed, plans for a new Cancer Centre,and new and expanded services in North West London, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Stakeholder update June 2021

The Engagement team are holding extra events for the residents of Luton, and Bedfordshire in general, to ensure their opinions are heard as a part of the review process.

The travel times to Mount Vernon for those living in Bedfordshire are among the highest in the catchment, and we want to hear what effect this may have on treatment decisions, and what the possible outcomes of the review may mean to residents.

An extra session for Luton has been scheduled for 22 March 2021, and for Bedfordshire on 17 March 2021. Visit the Location Specific Engagement Events page for details of how to register.

A third Locality Event for Hillingdon has been added to the schedule of Mount Vernon Review Online Engagement events on 22 March 2021.

The views and opinions of Hillingdon residents are essential to the review, with 14% of Mount Vernon patients coming from Hillingdon**, and Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation trust owning the Mount Vernon site.

To register for the "Zoom" meeting, visit the Locality Event page

** 2017 - 2020 figures, patients resident in Hillingdon CCG

Following a question from a participant in a locality engagement event, the engagement team has circulated total patient numbers for Mount Vernon Cancer Centre for 2019 - 2020 - see chart below.

An essential part of the planning for the future of cancer services is trying to understand what the demands on that service may be. In considering what should be available and where, the projected needs of the population many years into the future must be considered.

Details on this research and how it may influence service design can be heard in the locality engagement events now being held.

*Daily average calculated on a 5 day working week, so 260 working days across the year

The engagement team have started an extensive range of engagement events with residents of the Mount Vernon catchment area.

Residents are encouraged to join the event nearest to the area in which they reside, allowing them to see the data and hear the information relevant to where they live. Locations include Watford, Aylesbury, Brent and Ealing and a dozen others.

Details, including how to book a place, may be found on the Locality Events page of this website

Councillor Ketan Sheth, Chair of the Community and Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee of Brent Council, raises awareness of the Mount Vernon Review and engagement in a recent article in the Brent & Kilburn Times.

Councillor Sheth writes-

"It looks like the Watford Hospital site may be the best location for a new specialist cancer centre for this big area. They intend that the new Mount Vernon Cancer Centre would be managed by cancer specialists at UCLH. This combination of specialist management and a new cancer centre next to a general hospital would enable the team to undertake more specialist treatment and research, and to improve local access to care for all patients."

You can read the full article here

After a series of online focus groups in October and November 2020, a report summarising the views and opinions of the patients, their families and patient representatives is now available.

It is available in the downloaded here

The Mount Vernon Programme Board met on 10 December 2020 to consider the report on the patient engagement online focus groups held in November 2020, alongside the advice of the independent Clinical Advisory Board, in order to determine which service model would best meet the needs of Mount Vernon patients.

For more information, please see the latest Stakeholder Update

A series of online focus groups will be held January - March 2021 specific to regions within the Mount Vernon catchment. You can read more details, including how to register, here