Following discussion at the last meeting of the Primary Care and Community Education Group (PCCEG) in July and with other key stakeholders, there was agreement that:

• primary care and community education and training for personalised cancer care would be incorporated into the London Personalised Cancer Care Partnership Board;
• training for early diagnosis would be incorporated into the Early Detection and Awareness Group (EDAG); and
• there needs to be a renewed focus on better coordination, collaboration and communication about local training offers across ICS footprints. Members agreed to take this forward in their respective areas.

PCCEG is valued as a way of sharing learning and training across London, but as a vehicle to drive projects forward there has been less recognised value. Despite priority areas having been identified, there hasn’t been sufficient resources within TCST and the collaboration at a pan-London level to drive through developments effectively. This doesn’t mean that addressing primary care and community education and training is not still hugely important, but that PCCEG isn’t the most effective way to drive through change.

PCCEG has achieved a significant amount in recent years, including:

• Development of a range of resources including a framework for the evaluation of training and education programmes for cancer in primary care and a Training Needs Assessment (TNA) tool for primary, community and social care and pharmacists.  The findings from the pharmacy TNA resulted in the British Oncology Pharmacy Association developing a series of free online ‘Let’s communicate cancer’ modules;

• Creation of a FIT admin pathway and poster to support staff when speaking to patients required to complete a FIT test.  Findings from an evaluation of this work has resulted in GatewayC developing a national training module for administrators, launched earlier this month;
• Development of a Primary Care Cancer Education toolkit for Personalised Cancer Care and Early Diagnosis;
• Collaboration with Tower Hamlets CCG on the Training Needs Analysis (TNA) and primary care toolkit;
• Inclusion of Cancer Care Reviews (CCRs) on the strategic agenda in London;
• Addition of primary care nursing on the strategic agenda and development of a pan-London primary care nursing programme with a focus on Personalised Cancer Care.

The final PCCEG meeting took place in July with delegates discussing next steps and considering ideas for sharing education and training resources for London. This important area remains a key element of improving cancer outcomes across the whole cancer pathway.