Developing Cancer Rapid Diagnostic Pathways

Jo is a Registered Nurse and Senior Manager with 32 years’ experience in varied settings throughout the healthcare sector. Her specialist fields include neurosciences and oncology, and she has undertaken undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Advanced Cancer Nursing Practice. She also has extensive experience in transformational and commercial development. 

Jo has worked as a clinical nurse specialist, nurse consultant, divisional director of nursing, clinical director, commercial director, and an independent management consultant. She has designed and set up multiple services nationally both within the NHS and the private sector. Jo has undertaken extensive research and won the Nursing Standard Nurse of the Year Award, with a colleague, in recognition of their development of an oral chemotherapy diary, which is now used internationally to empower patients to manage their symptoms and side effects. She presented this research at international conferences and published this work in several healthcare journals. 

Jo remains actively committed to enhancing and promoting best practice and improving patient experience. She currently works at BHRUT as the RDC Strategy and Operations Manager. She has been responsible for setting up the service from inception, developing a dedicated team, interprofessional networks and integrating clinical effectiveness. She is closely supported by the Clinical Leads and Trust Management, which has allowed her to embed new ways of working and develop new initiatives. She has a clinical element to her role and works as a nurse consultant within the RDC, providing clinical insight and operational awareness to drive strategic change. 

The service has now been operational since June 2021 and continues to grow. The pathway is now well established within the sector and provides holistic management of patients with complex, non-specific symptoms with a suspected cancer diagnosis.

Dr Rob Turner has been a Consultant Clinical Oncologist in Leeds since 2004. He has treated lung, urological malignancy, sarcoma and carcinoma unknown primary across a number of geographies in West Yorkshire, including Leeds itself - a DGH with a catchment population of 750K. 

Rob was Lead Cancer Clinician at Leeds Cancer Centre between 2017 and 2020 and previously oversaw the implementation of the 2015 NG12 suspected cancer referral guidelines and latterly the introduction of the Faster Diagnosis Standard (FDS). He led the Leeds ACE Vague Symptoms Pilot from its inception and remained part of the MDC (part of the Leeds RDC) until 2020. 

Rob chairs the SarcomaUK Early Diagnosis Group. His current clinical practice includes sarcoma, palliative urological malignancy and carcinoma unknown primary.

Dr Luigi De Michele specialist in internal medicine in Italy University of Rome la Sapienza 2002,

Medical degree July 2017 University of Rome la Sapienza.

Consultant Role in Emergency Department in main University Hospital from 2002 to 2009 in Rome.

Senior Role in different UK Hospital in Emergency department, Elderly care, cardiology and stroke medicine from 2010 to 2015.

Consultant role in UK since 2015 in elderly care.

Consultant and Clinical Lead in RDC Guy’s Hospital since November 2016

Consultant RDC BHRUT since May 2021.

One year of volunteer work in Tsumeb district Hospital in Namibia as Internist 2011

One year of volunteer work in FAME Hospital Karatu in Tanzania as Internist in 2014

Medical attachment 2 months in Internal Medicine University of Peradeniya, Kandy, Sri Lanka 2012

Belinda is the Project Manager for Rapid Diagnostic Services in the SWAG Cancer Alliance. Prior to moving to the Cancer Alliance and the NHS, her background was Project Managing Business Process improvements within a Manufacturing Company. Transferring these skills while learning the complexities of both the NHS and Cancer Services has been her primary goal, and she is passionate about increasing efficiencies while also improving patient experience.

Dr Prudham qualified from St Bartholomew’s Hospital in 1992 he then returned North to train in the North West, predominantly in Salford and North Manchester.  He gained specialist accreditation in gastroenterology in 2000 and the commenced his first consultant post.

He has been a consultant gastroenterologist in Fairfield since 2001. Dr Prudham has also held a variety of senior leadership appointments including Clinical Director, Deputy Medical Director and Lead Cancer Clinician. He is currently the Chair of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority Information Board, Caldicott Guardian, Lead Clinician for the Northern Care Alliance Rapid Diagnostic Centre and Lead Cancer clinician for the Northern Care Alliance group of hospitals.

Dr Prudham is an expert colonoscopist and his main clinical interest is advanced colonoscopy, bowel cancer screening and complex polypectomy.  He has led the local screening programme since its inception in 2007.  He also provides other expert upper GI endoscopy services both diagnostic and therapeutic such as balloon dilatation and PEG insertion.

Dr Prudham's work in helping establish one of the first Rapid Diagnostic Centres in the country has provided him with specific expertise in the rapid assessment of non-specific symptoms suggestive of cancer, a new and vital service.

Dr Andrew Millar is a Consultant Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist at the North Middlesex University Hospital where he is also the Lead Clinician for Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer and the Viral Hepatitis Services. 

He has a passion for ensuring patients are given a rapid and effective diagnosis so that treatment can start early. Dr Millar leads the development of the Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Centres, which is key project of the UCLH Cancer Collaborative. This work began when he was the London Cancer Hepato-biliary and Pancreatic Pathway Director and he now focuses on leading this growing project which is jointly funded by NHS England and Cancer Research UK. 

The Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Centres aim to improve access to care for patients with concerning cancer symptoms in North Central and East London who do not meet the criteria for existing rapid referral or are to unwell to wait for a conventional appointment. 

He is passionate that diagnosis must start with a careful record of symptoms and patient’s concern, supported by relevant investigations. He is also helping to develop technology to obtain clinical information from patients to enhance clinical care and provide key data for the development of new clinical decision support tools (CDSTs).

As Senior Programme Manager in the NHS Cancer Programme, Faster Diagnosis Team, Elizabeth has been working towards the delivery of Rapid Diagnostic Centres across the country. She has previously worked on value-based healthcare and standardised health outcome measurement globally and was Research Coordinator for the International Centre for Migration, Health and Development where she focused on forced migration, reproductive health and gender-based violence.