For nearly 100 years, our charitable foundation, established in 1935, has set us apart and will continue to drive our evolution – setting us apart for other healthcare peers.

When we look at what will define the business of the future, the answer often focuses on embracing key trends, from net-zero, to AI, to technological advancements and growing online marketplaces.

For The London Clinic, the answer to this question is quite a simple one. Charity defines our mission: to extend world-class care to all, whether through our global community outreach (to patients and partner organisations), local community work, or innovative research.

Our efforts focus on three pillars: Community Impact and Education, Innovation, and Research.

Community Impact & Education

We aim to extend our hospital's reach to the wider community, specifically underserved London communities, and deliver impactful outcomes in healthcare settings where resources are stretched or scarce.

Our strategy in this area includes:

• Cancer Prevention Outreach: We understand that for certain groups there are more barriers when it comes to accessing healthcare. We aim to provide support to those in underserved communities, facing issues ranging from addiction to homelessness, through community pop-ups and free to access GP appointments.
• Open Access to Cancer Diagnostics: We are proud to partner with various NHS hospitals in London to reduce public waiting lists. Our aim is to support 25,000 people a year with same day access rapid diagnostic tests (through our Rapid Diagnostics Centre, Endoscopy Unit and Pathology service) with 20% of these being NHS patients or under-served community recipients.
• Cancer Education: Every year we deliver resources and education via online programmes and an annual lecture in partnership with the Royal Society of Medicine.
• Cancer Survivorship Support: We offer ongoing support to those living with cancer in our community, to support their personal journey. We partner with local organisations, hospices and charities to reach people in need of our support.

Innovation and Technology

The second pillar of our charity work focuses on the infrastructure, technology and cutting-edge equipment we need today to be able to develop for tomorrow. The emphasis here is on accelerating diagnoses, increasing our capacity for care and creating the most efficient pathways to treatments.

Overall, all profits we’ve ever generated have been directly re-invested back into our charity. This has enabled our continued growth, and allowed us to innovate across various areas, often being the first to deliver new medical techniques now used in hospitals globally.

Our innovation strategy also embraces more holistic approaches to care and enhancements to our facilities that will make the cancer journey as smooth and comfortable as possible.

Taken together, these improvements will ensure that we deliver the most up to date, innovative treatments available.

Research

Uniting with our innovation goals is the hospital’s ambition to become a leader in oncology research. This means we are seeking philanthropic investment in our PhD oncology research programme, to back further research to support the national cancer challenge.  We partner with London Universities to deliver this world-class research, supported by major donors to the London Clinic.

We regularly fund high-level degree courses for clinical and non-clinical colleagues. As well as helping their career development, this also helps our teams to provide advanced, quality care for patients.

How can you support The London Clinic’s Charitable aims?

As The London Clinic’s Director of Philanthropy, I wish to express a deep sense of gratitude towards those who make contributions to our hospital. Some are grateful patients, who wish to thank us by investing in our future. Others are simply aligned with our vision to save and extend more lives of people living with cancer.

No matter your motivations, when you support The London Clinic you become a part of our vision to transform people’s lives.

The Philanthropy Team here at the London Clinic helps to keep our charitable heart beating. We support the raising of funds in addition to our hospital’s operational income, and manage the delivery of outreach work to the local community.

Our supporters allow us to continue to drive towards an even brighter charitable future.

If you would like to know more about how you can help, please reach out to us directly to discuss- philanthropy@thelondonclinic.co.uk and you can read more about our charity work here.

Best Hospital of the Year Award

The Royal Marsden Private Care’s unparalleled surgical expertise was recently highlighted in the Channel 4 three-part documentary Super Surgeons: A Chance at Life. The programme gave viewers an insight into the hospital’s extensive repertoire of innovative surgeries and the opportunities that are offered to patients, which are often not available at other UK centres.

The documentary followed the journeys of eight Royal Marsden patients with advanced or relapsed cancers as they prepared for life-saving surgeries. These patients were under the expert care of five world-leading Royal Marsden consultants, who provide both private and NHS clinics at the hospital. This included Professor Vinidh Paleri, Consultant Head and Neck Surgeon at The Royal Marsden, who is one of the clinicians who helped to pioneer transoral robotic surgery (TORS).

TORS is a minimally invasive surgical technique which uses robotic technology to treat some head and neck cancers. This innovative surgical procedure offers durable survival for patients with recurrent head and neck cancer compared with current standard treatments, such as open surgery. “For these patients, the very latest in surgical technology and treatment is vital for successful treatment, so TORS is an extremely welcome innovation”, explained Professor Paleri.

Innovation in Care Award

Liquid biopsies are tests that can detect tiny amounts of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) shed by the cancer into the blood. An innovative study, called TRACC Part C, is currently evaluating whether these minimally invasive tests can determine which bowel cancer patients need to undergo chemotherapy after surgery. If ctDNA is not detected in the blood following surgery, the trial analyses if a patient’s treatment could be de-escalated to no chemotherapy at all, or chemotherapy in tablet form, which has fewer side effects than conventional chemotherapy.

Professor David Cunningham, Director of Clinical Research at The Royal Marsden and Chief Investigator of the study, explains: “The results of this trial could help us tailor treatment decisions to benefit patients and reduce the side effects of chemotherapy, which will enable patients to have a better quality of life”.

Excellence in Nursing Practice Award

The Senior Adult Oncology Programme (SAOP) is a groundbreaking initiative, which launched in November 2021. SAOP was the first geriatric oncology service dedicated to the care of older adults with cancer to be established in a UK tertiary cancer centre, and Royal Marsden nurses have been an integral part of the multidisciplinary team who have implemented the programme.

The Royal Marsden’s Private Patient Medical Day Unit runs a systemic anti-cancer treatment clinic (SACT), where 30% of patients cared for are over 70. As the older population are at higher risk of problems associated with systemic treatments, such as chemotherapy, the Unit provides specialist care tailored to this age group. This includes supporting patients with any memory, mobility, autonomy and nutritional issues they may have and working with physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians and pharmacists to develop an integrated, multidisciplinary plan that suits their individual needs. This approach can reduce the risk of hospitalisations as well as treatment side effects and improve the quality of life for older adults.

The 2023 Awards ceremony is due to take place on Thursday 16th November.