King’s designated as Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence for second consecutive term
16 May 2025 - The designation recognises adult neuro-oncology centres that provide excellent treatment, care and research opportunities for patients with brain tumours
King’s College Hospital’s neuro-oncology service has been awarded a Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence designation for the second consecutive three-year term.
King’s submitted its submission as part of King’s Health Partners, which comprises King’s College Hospital, Guy’s Hospital, St Thomas’ Hospital and Kent Oncology Centre.
At a ceremony on 15 May, King’s joined 13 other neuro-oncology centres as well as charity leaders, politicians and health leaders to mark the achievement.
King’s was found to have met high standards across patient treatment, care and research following an extensive peer-led review of its service and feedback collected from patients through the Brain Tumour Charity, by a committee of NHS, research and patient experts.
The designation recognises NHS staff going above and beyond, and allows patients and their families to feel confident that they are receiving the best possible care currently available in the NHS.
Keyoumars Ashkan MBE, Professor of Neurosurgery and Consultant Neurosurgeon leading the Neuro-Oncology Service at King’s Health Partners (pictured with certificate), who accepted the Centre of Excellence award on behalf of King’s, said: “We are delighted to receive the Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence designation for a second consecutive term.
“At King’s, we are committed to delivering the highest standards of holistic care and innovative treatment to our patients, coupled with access to groundbreaking clinical trials to help further advance our understanding and treatment of brain tumours.”
Professor Ros Quinlivan, who led the review process, said: “Having led similar initiatives in other disease areas, I was struck by the level of commitment and compassion in all the teams who took part in the Centre of Excellence initiative, with innovative examples of treatment and care present in every centre. The most exciting part of this process is the work, already underway, to share these exceptional practices and drive forward national collaboration on key challenges.”
Jess Mills, Tessa Jowell’s daughter and the co-founder of TJBCM, said: “Mum’s legacy to transform outcomes for brain cancer patients across the UK has reached another huge milestone. It has been so moving to witness how committed the teams caring for patients are to come on this journey with us.”
Brain tumours affect over 12,000 adults in the UK every year and kill more people under the age of 40 than any other cancer. In the absence of a cure, the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM) has committed to ensuring all UK patients with a brain tumour can access the best standard of treatment, care and research, through the Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence initiative, described recently by Minister Ashley Dalton as the “main national framework” in UK neuro-oncology.