£1.5m investment from Macmillan set to improve cancer care at Barts Health
Macmillan Cancer Support and Barts Health NHS Trust celebrated 25 years of working in partnership this week with a further £1.5m investment from the charity to help improve care for people living with cancer across North-East London.
Barry Quinn, Macmillan Director of Nursing for Cancer at Barts Health said: "Cancer care is at the heart of what we do at Barts Health for our local population. This new exciting phase in our partnership with Macmillan will help drive forward further significant improvements and ensure patient-led, compassionate and innovative care."
The investment by Macmillan represents a programme of activity including the recruitment of 12 additional specialist nurses and support workers joining the sixty other Macmillan professionals already working across the Trust's five hospitals.
Quinn, who was recently appointed to this new post, will oversee recruitment and training of staff to help innovate and improve patient experience and outcomes for the 3,500 people with cancer treated by the Trust each year.
In addition, the partnership means many staff working in cancer care across the Trust will be able to apply to become Macmillan professionals. With access to specialist cancer training and development, they will also benefit from recognition as Macmillan experts in the field of cancer care.
Colleagues from Barts Health and Macmillan Cancer Support joined forces at an event on 12th June to recognise the partnership's strong 25-year history and design its future.
Ed Tallis, Macmillan Head of Services for London added: “We’re delighted to celebrate 25 years of collaboration with Barts Health to improve cancer patient experience and are really excited about what we can achieve with our continued partnership and further investment. It is only by working with partners such as Barts Health that we can achieve our ambition to help all Londoners with cancer to live life as fully as they can.”
Barts Health is leading London by exceeding national waiting times targets for treating cancer patients, with cancer care at St Bartholomew's Hospital rated 'Good' by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The teams care for patients from across Inner North-East London (Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Newham, the City and Hackney) and beyond.