CRUK Early Diagnosis Conference – a PPIE perspective

Yo Green & David Holden

Another excellent conference sponsored by Cancer Research UK. I was particularly impressed by the number of talks and posters presented by CanDetect members and was also impressed by the quality of speakers and attendees which included a number of well-known Professors from the Cancer Community including two from our own ranks who were chairing presentations.

Most talks were very relevant and I enjoyed the breakout groups although some of these proved too popular for the number of people attending. Subjects were on innovation, timeliness of diagnosis, non-specific pathways, co-morbidities and inequalities in cancer diagnosis. There were particular sector talks on bowel, breast and prostate.

 Talks by young PhD students were original, vibrant and particularly welcome.

After the first day, we were encouraged to network and I was pleased to have resumed acquaintances with a number of other PPI representatives/friends who were working for Cancer Research UK and other cancer charities. It was fascinating to share experiences and hear of other types of work that were being undertaken nationally.

One negative, given the looming election, certain speakers were unable to attend or give their talks and the 4 UK Cancer Tsars (other than one) who were talking on cancer strategy had perhaps to be more measured in their views.

Overall, a really useful experience in which I learned a lot.

Written by David Holden (PPIE Representative)