Swansea team celebrates centre of excellence award for regional network caring for people with brain tumours

A Welsh regional team that cares for people with brain tumours has been awarded centre of excellence status by a leading national charity.

The South Wales Neuro-Oncology Network comprises the South West Wales Cancer Centre at Swansea’s Singleton Hospital, Velindre Cancer Centre and University Hospital of Wales, both in Cardiff.

It has a multidisciplinary team drawn from across the network area which discusses and manages all brain tumour cases in South Wales.

Surgery is undertaken in University Hospital of Wales, UHW, but most other aspects of brain tumour care are provided at the patient’s nearest hospital.

For those in the Swansea Bay and Hywel Dda health board areas, their care is based at South West Wales Cancer Centre (SWWCC) in Swansea.

Now the network, along with 13 other brain tumour services across the UK, has been designated a Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence.

(Main picture above shows, l-r: Genene Clark, neuro-oncology specialist nurse; Ashleigh Hopkin, lead review radiographer; Kelly Davies, radiotherapy support worker; Dr Prashanth Bhat, specialist grade clinical oncologist; Dr Jennifer Kahan, consultant clinical oncologist; Janet Bower, neuro-oncology specialist nurse; Stuart Foyle, quality improvement radiographer; and Mark Pinson, therapy radiographer)

Each centre was awarded for the excellent treatment, care and research they provide, following an extensive peer-led review of services and feedback from patients.

Brain tumours affect more than 12,000 adults in the UK every year and kill more people under the age of 40 than any other cancer.

Swansea Bay has two neuro-oncologists, Dr Jennifer Kahan and Dr Prashanth Kainthaje Bhat.

They are supported by specialist nurses Genene Clarke and Janet Bower, along with the wider SWWCC team, including radiology, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Dr Bhat said: “Most patients with a brain tumour have acute symptoms such as stroke or seizure and come through the emergency department. Only a small number of patients are referred by their GP.

“Patients who have a suspicion of a brain tumour are then referred to the neuro-oncology multidisciplinary team, or MDT, which meets every week.

“It’s an MDT for the whole of South Wales. So, we have referrals coming from Pembrokeshire in the west to Monmouthshire in the east and includes south Powys.”

If the patient needs surgery or a biopsy, they go to the specialist centre for neurosurgery based in UHW.

Once a diagnosis is confirmed and if the patients require oncology treatments they are referred to their local oncology centre, either the SWWCC or Velindre.

“Many patients with a brain tumour will require treatment with chemotherapy or radiotherapy,” said Dr Bhat. “We may follow patients up indefinitely, and even after 10-15 years, patients may have a scan once a year. It’s to ensure there is no reoccurrence or, if there is, that we pick it up early.”

Tessa Jowell, a former Labour MP and life peer, was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2017 and died the following year.

Her family then established the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. This is committed to ensuring all UK patients with a brain tumour can access the best standard of treatment, care and research.

In 2024, all UK neuro-oncology centres were invited to be assessed against the Tessa Jowell Standards of Excellence.

Areas of assessment included collaboration between hospitals and community services; surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and neurology as well as imaging and pathology; rehabilitation and other support; staff training and professional development; and research and clinical trials.

(Pictured: the regional team at the awards ceremony)

Neuro-oncology in UHW and Velindre previously had Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence status, but the SWWCC has now been included for the first time as part of the South Wales Network.

Dr Kahan said: “The award gives patients the confidence that they are receiving the highest standard of care. We had to demonstrate that we are meeting markers of excellence across the board. It represents not just the doctors but the entire team.

“We have two brilliant specialist nurses, Genene who covers patients in the Swansea Bay area and Janet who covers Hywel Dda.

“But the award reflects wider departments such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy and radiology, and the individuals caring for patients within them. It represents how the service is delivered as a whole.”

In each centre, the entire team treating brain tumours, from surgeons and nurses through to physiotherapists, palliative care specialists and researchers, came together to undergo a rigorous assessment of their services by a committee of clinical, research and patient experts. 

In addition to South Wales gaining centre of excellence, in April it was announced that Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission and Cancer Research Wales had developed a new partnership.

Dr Kahan said: “It's a time of change for brain tumour research, and the collaboration between Cancer Research Wales and the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission offers opportunity for Wales to be part of the research and development.

“Having a strong patient voice and equitable opportunity to engage in UK-wide innovations will embed Wales and Welsh patients in the transformation of brain tumour care.”