Following the launch of our landmark report “Towards Excellence”, our Paediatric Programme Managers Beccy Weir and Laura Pickering reflect on what the paediatric neuro-oncology community is already doing to act on the report’s findings.
On 2nd December, we launched our landmark report, Towards Excellence: building a better future for children with a brain tumour. Held at Great Ormond Street Hospital, the event brought together leading clinicians, researchers, charities and Government officials — including Ashley Dalton MP, the Minister responsible for the national cancer plan. The report, and the conversations that followed, made clear the scale of the challenges facing children and young people with a brain tumour, and the urgent need to tackle the inequities that still shape their care.
Minster Ashley Dalton awarding one of the new Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence.
But the mood in the room showed that this isn’t the whole story. By bringing together charities, clinicians, researchers and policymakers from across the UK, the event highlighted just how ready the paediatric brain tumour community is to act on the report’s findings. There was a shared determination to go further and faster, and a strong sense of collective purpose: that every child deserves the very best treatment, care and research opportunities, no matter where they live.
In this blog, we want to highlight two ways the paediatric neuro-oncology community is already turning that commitment into action, and how the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM) is supporting this work.
1. Local change: Centres driving service improvements, supported by the Centre of Excellence process
Many of the challenges highlighted in our report are local in nature, and have local solutions. At its heart, the Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence programme is about providing paediatric neuro-oncology teams with the tools, insights and data they need to continuously develop their services. Benchmarking data, expert feedback, and targeted recommendations enable centres to identify where change is needed and strengthen the care they provide.
This commitment to service improvement was exemplified on 2nd December with the announcement of four new Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence for Children: University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust; Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Royal Hospital for Children, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital, NHS Grampian; and The Royal Marsden Hospital, St George’s Hospital and King’s College Hospital with The Institute of Cancer Research, London, (as the South London Paediatric Neuro-Oncology Network).
All four of these centres previously applied in 2023 and received tailored recommendations from the expert committee of reviewers. The teams worked with dedication to develop their services, and successfully reapplied in 2025. Their achievements were impressive and wide-ranging, including:
- Improved patient experience: One centre tripled its patient-feedback response rate, with 93% of families expressing strong approval. This helped the service respond more quickly to concerns and tailor support to what families say they need.
- Safer chemotherapy delivery: Two centres introduced network-wide read-only access to e-prescribing systems, ensuring every clinician involved in a child’s care can see the same treatment information. This strengthens safety checks and supports smoother care across hospitals.
- Stronger nursing support: With strengthened CNS capacity – including a new leadership role – another centre helped reduce treatment delays, improve continuity of care, and expand specialist training. This means families have more consistent, timely support from nurses who know their child well.
- Expanded psychological support: Additional specialist psychology capacity at one centre has reduced waiting lists and strengthened input into wider treatment decision-making, ensuring emotional and cognitive needs are recognised sooner and support is available when families need it most.
- Enhanced specialist knowledge to support rehabilitation: One centre now includes a rehabilitation neurologist alongside the CNS to review all patients post-treatment and expanded their outpatient rehabilitation support. Two centres provided specialist training in acquired brain injuries for teaching staff, with these specialists providing guidance for local schools to support the child’s reintegration.
- Clearer late-effects planning: More holistic end-of-treatment summaries have been introduced at one centre, giving families and local teams a clearer picture of what to expect and monitor long-term, helping children access the right follow-up care.
As of 2nd December, two-thirds of the UK population is now covered by a Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence for Children. This is a remarkable milestone for the community, as these four new centres join the six centres previously designated in 2023. Developments have been seen in throughout the Tessa Jowell Network, with 8/15 paediatric centres in total now having delivered meaningful change over the past 18 months through the CoE process. None of this would be have been possible without the dedication of the NHS teams who took part, as well as to our funders and partners who make this work happen.
We will continue to use the largest dataset ever collated on NHS paediatric neuro-oncology services to drive further improvement, shaping both local practice and national systems change to ensure every child receives the highest-quality treatment, care and research opportunities. A key part of this, also launched on the 2nd December, is the new Academy for Paediatrics.
2. The new Tessa Jowell Academy for Paediatrics: Sharing knowledge, strengthening skills, connecting professionals
One of the clearest messages from our report was that brilliant, gold-standard care is already being delivered across the UK — but too often, that best practice stays within individual teams. Through the Centre of Excellence review process, we heard about thoughtful innovations, clever workarounds, and moments of outstanding multidisciplinary teamwork that simply are not visible to colleagues elsewhere. At the same time, many specialists told us they felt professionally isolated, without a natural space to learn from peers who face the same challenges.
The Tessa Jowell Academy for Paediatrics was created to change that, building on the success of the 1500-member Adult Academy, launched in 2022.
In partnership with the CCLG: The Children & Young People’s Cancer Association (CCLG), the Academy provides a free, online space where NHS professionals working with children with a brain tumour can connect, share their successes, learn from others, and build on the best practice already happening across the country. It is not just a training hub — it is a community designed to help clinicians, nurses and allied health professionals feel supported, heard and equipped to deliver the very best care for children and their families.
Sign up to the Tessa Jowell Academy to access training, connect with peers and explore resources.
About the platform
The Academy belongs to the whole paediatric neuro-oncology community. Its value will grow in step with the energy and ideas brought by its members, whether that is suggesting new topics, sharing expertise, or making use of the resource library to build confidence in different areas of paediatric neuro-oncology. It is designed to be open, inclusive, for anyone involved in the treatment and care of children with a brain tumour, no matter where they are based or their professional role.
As the Academy grows, so too will its content and resource library. Early offerings include:
- Initial learning materials from the first courses, including:
- Fundamentals of Paediatric Neuro-Oncology,
- Introduction to Palliative & End-of-Life Care, and
- Rehabilitation and Education Showcasing sessions.
- Opportunities for peer-to-peer connection and discussion;
- Charity-finder tool signposting relevant professional support, including training, equipment funding and research opportunities;
Upcoming events
Registration is open for the first two webinars:
Academy Launch Event
Tuesday 9 December, 3pm
Fundamentals in Paediatric Neuro-Oncology – Webinar 1:
How do children with brain tumours present in practice?
Wednesday 10 December, 1pm
3. What’s next?
Paediatric teams across the NHS face rising demand, stretched services and the constant challenge of meeting children’s needs in a system not always designed around them. Yet our work over the past few years has also shown something else: remarkable innovation happening in every corner of the country, and a deep commitment to improving the lives of children and families affected by a brain tumour.
This is an important moment for paediatric neuro-oncology. New research programmes, many funded by our charity partners and the Government, are beginning to unlock insights that could shape future treatments; rehabilitation, education and psychosocial support are receiving long-overdue attention; and clinicians are increasingly working across hospitals and disciplines to provide more joined-up care.
A map showing the Tessa Jowell Network of Centres, as of December 2025
Through our ten Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence for Children — and in partnership with all centres within the Tessa Jowell network, our charity partners, and Government — we will continue to shine a light on what works, spread best practice, and tackle the inequities that still exist. Championing the recommendations highlighted in our Towards Excellence report, emerging projects at both local and national levels will begin to deliver on the community’s efforts to build a better future for children with a brain tumour.
Our goal remains the same as the one championed by Dame Tessa: a future where every child with a brain tumour receives the very best care, wherever they live, and where no family faces this journey alone.
