Following the initial agreement of the strategic partnership on 21 August 2023, Nuffield Health, the UK’s largest healthcare charity, and Icon Group, Australia’s largest specialist oncology services provider, are announcing the next step in their strategic partnership through a new collaboration at Nuffield Health Cancer Centre London (CCL) and exploring growth opportunities across the network.

The partnership means that while CCL remains under the Nuffield Health ownership, brand, operational management, and clinical governance, the health system director at Nuffield Health and the leadership team at CCL are now working closely with Icon Group’s executive manager strategic growth and national operations manager (UK), to identify priority areas to enhance and invest in the service.

This includes investment in technical capability, patient experience, and medical leadership to support service development and increased patient access to the best-possible cancer care.

The partnership at CCL will continue to see collaboration with consultants shared between CCL and Parkside Hospital.

Alongside this announcement, both organisations are exploring how their partnership could develop across Nuffield Health’s other cancer services within its hospitals in the UK.

Steve Gray, Nuffield Health’s chief executive, said: “Our ambition for the partnership is to meet the rising demand for cancer care by expanding our oncology services and develop leading cancer care pathways in the independent sector.

The partnership will help to drive increased investment in cancer services

“By combining Icon Group’s fantastic oncology research, innovation, and investment expertise with our own connected healthcare experience across our hospital, fitness, and wellbeing facilities in London, I believe both organisations can produce best-in-class cancer outcomes for more people.

“The Icon Group team is already working with our Cancer Centre London team to identify investment priorities and develop improvement plans that will see CCL reach its full potential.

“And, over the coming months, we’ll be working with Icon Group to determine where we can invest in our existing cancer care services across the UK and expand into more places to reach more people as we fulfill our purpose of building a healthier nation.”

Mark Middleton, Icon Group chief executive Officer, added: “Cancer Centre London has an outstanding reputation and we are delighted to be part of its future evolution.

“As part of this partnership, we have made a deep commitment to investing in technical capability, alongside medical and service leadership, to ensure CCL meets its full potential as a centre of oncology excellence.

“This is the first step in our combined commitment to increase access to cancer care closer to where people live across the UK.

“Internationally, radiotherapy is recommended in approximately 50% of cancer diagnoses; However, in the UK it is utilised in less than 30% of cases.

“Increasing access presents an enormous opportunity to make a real difference to cancer outcomes for patients across the region.”