Recent additional confirmed speakers for the ECCO 2018 European Cancer Summit include:

Prof. Gunnar Saeter, The Organisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI)
Prof. Lorenzo Derchi, President of the European Society of Radiology (ESR)
Prof. Andreas Charalambous, President-Elect of the European Oncology Nursing Society (EONS)
Dr. Maria Die Trill, President of the International Psycho-Oncology Society (IPOS)
Eveline Scheres, Chair of the ECL Access to Cancer Medicines Taskforce
Šarunas Narbutas, President of the Lithuanian Cancer Patient Coalition
Dr. Clifford Hudis, Chief Executive of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)
Dr. Dinah Singer, National Institute of Health, USA
Prof. Hideo Baba, Japan Society of Clinical Oncology
Dr. Ajay Aggarwal, Institute of Cancer Policy, King’s College London
Prof. Riccardo Audisio, Past-President of the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO)

They join other high profile speakers such as the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Dr. Vytenis Andriukaitis, the President of Malta Her Excellency Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Professor Richard Sullivan and many others for a focused three day programme on the pressing policy challenges for cancer care in Europe. 

Read more about the programme here.

Early registration deadline fast approaching!

Finally, we would like to remind readers that the deadline for early registration discount to the ECCO 2018 European Cancer Summit is fast approaching – 25th June 2018. Do not miss your opportunity to register at a reduced rate.

More information here.

Together let’s help shape a new and ambitious future for the oncology community! #ECCOSummit

ECCO welcomes new member ESOI

ECCO proudly welcomes its newest member – the European Society of Oncologic Imaging (ESOI), whose membership application was confirmed and approved at the May meeting of the ECCO General Assembly.

ESOI is an apolitical, non-profit organisation, exclusively and directly dedicated to promoting and coordinating the scientific, philanthropic, intellectual and professional activities of oncologic imaging.

ECCO President Philip Poortmans said: “With continuing and exciting technological developments that improve cancer diagnosis and care in the field of medical imaging, it is wonderful that ECCO activities, such as our work on Quality Cancer Care, will now benefit from the oncology-specific input of ESOI and its members. The value of imaging will be in the spotlight at the ECCO 2018 European Cancer Summit in September, a session I am especially looking forward to.”

ESOI President Regina Beets-Tan said: “ECCO represents a unique coming together of stakeholders involved in cancer care across Europe to advocate for system improvements. ESOI is pleased to join our health professional colleagues from across the cancer care continuum in making the case for multidisciplinarity, quality cancer care and access for patients to all innovations that improve outcomes, including innovations in imaging.”

Next ERQCCs on their way: Breast, prostate, lung and ovarian

The scientific and policy work on the ECCO Essential Requirements for Quality Cancer Care (ERQCC) programme continues. ECCO, together with its Member Societies, ECCO Patient Advisory Committee (PAC) and other partnering organisations, is currently working on the final drafts of the Breast Cancer and Prostate Cancer manuscripts. The manuscripts will be finalised in time for the ECCO 2018 European Cancer Summit in Vienna on 7-9 September 2018. 

In May 2018, ECCO initiated ERQCCs for Lung and Ovarian Cancer. 

ECCO welcomes multi-sponsorship (minimum 2 sponsors) for the ECCO Essential Requirements for Quality Cancer Care programme in order to provide financial sustainability and to support potential expansion of scope for the programme activities. For further information please contact us at qualitycancercare@ecco-org.eu 

Access the ERQCC website and publications here.

Follow the project on Twitter: #ERQCC #qualitycancercare

Quality in cancer care: Making it a European habit

In the Spring edition of Cancer World magazine, the ECCO President Philip Poortmans focuses on the ECCO mission and its expression through the Essential Requirements for Quality Cancer Care programme. These new charters for improvement, created for specific tumour types, set out in clear terms the checklist elements required to be in place to achieve quality cancer care.

Read more here.

#EU4Health Joint statement calling for Europe to do more for health

Ahead of an informal meeting of EU health ministers in Sofia, ECCO and 13 other health NGOs published 6 key asks to the European Commission as part of a broader #EU4Health campaign to ensure health maintains its place in the European Union’s sense of mission and purpose. 

The key asks are:

1. Establish strong leadership on health, 
2.  Adopt EU legislation to prevent diseases
3.  Develop a framework for tackling non-communicable diseases
4.  Support national health systems with expertise and evidence
5.  Empower citizens and patients
6. Assess the impact on health of EU policies

More information here.

ECCO and ITN Productions collaboration: A New Era of Quality Cancer Care

ECCO and ITN Productions are producing a current affairs-style programme exploring the quality of cancer care across Europe, the issues relating to survivorship and the current concerns about cancer care funding.

The programme will showcase how better organisation of cancer care is needed as well as look at patient expectations and the incredible characters of our devoted healthcare professionals. For further information or to take part click here. 

View the interview with ECCO CEO Birgit Beger and ECCO PAC Chair Ian Banks. 

ECCO partners with the Collaboration for Oncology Data in Europe to explore pragmatic outcomes measurement

ECCO and the Collaboration for Oncology Data in Europe (CODE) are embarking on a joint initiative to explore outcomes measurement within cancer care. The goal is to further explore the topic of outcomes measurement to identify metrics of high clinical value, meaningful for both patients and clinicians, but which can be measured efficiently and be put “at the right scale”. This work will be part of the longer journey towards comprehensive outcomes measurement. 

“ECCO’s mission is to improve outcomes for cancer patients through the delivery of higher quality cancer care. This partnership allows us to contribute to the debate on how to move towards delivering greater value to patients and healthcare systems. We are therefore delighted to be working with CODE to better understand which outcomes can be measured accurately today, to explore their value and the associated cost of capturing this data, and to contribute towards the journey to comprehensive outcomes measurement,” said Prof Philip Poortmans, ECCO’s President.

Read more here.

#ICYMI: Cancer policy developments

• The European Commission set out plans to allocate €7.7 billion to health research within its forthcoming “Horizon Europe” research programme
• The European Medicines Agency’s CHMP made determinations on new cancer medicine authorisations and terms of use for some existing cancer medicines
• The Austrian Government published the programme of its 6 month Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, including an intention to conclude revisions to the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive, and promote agreement on cross border HTA cooperation
• The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) published new findings about the implications of cancer for workers and workplaces across Europe
• The European Chronic Disease Alliance launched a manifesto for improving the EU’s efforts to reduce premature mortality from Non-Communicable Diseases
• The European People’s Party issued a call for the EU to double its spending on cancer research by 2024
• The European Commission published measures it will  take to improve cross-border access to electronic health records, and advance data-sharing across countries for disease prevention and research

Keep up to date with breaking cancer news via ECCO’s ‘This Week in EU Cancer Policy News’