The Medical Oncology team from the Valdecilla Health Research Institute (IDIVAL) and the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospital (HUMV) attended in Paris the first meeting of the European network of cancer centers, EUnetCCC, advancing Cantabria’s participation in the pilot accreditation program for Comprehensive Cancer Centers.
The event brought togethhttps://www.humv.es/er nearly 1,000 health professionals, researchers, cancer center directors, policymakers, and patient association representatives from multiple European Union countries, as well as participants from other initiatives such as JANE-2, EUCanScreen, eCAN Plus, UNCAN.eu, and CANDLE. EUnetCCC—active since October 2024 and coordinated by the Institut National du Cancer, INCa (France)—is part of the European Beating Cancer Plan. Its objective is to promote the creation of Comprehensive Cancer Centers (CCCs) across Europe to improve cancer care throughout the entire patient pathway—from prevention to palliative care—standardizing clinical practice and fostering integrated research, innovation, and professional training.
Within this initiative, EUnetCCC is developing an accreditation program for CCCs, with criteria covering governance, clinical care, research, innovation, prevention, and training. It will initially be applied to a pilot group of European centers to validate its feasibility in different contexts. In this framework, the institutions of Cantabria will participate alongside those of La Rioja in a pilot study to establish an interregional CCC that will integrate hospitals, research institutes, universities, and other oncology entities from both regions.
Last May, the relevant departments of both regions signed a declaration of intent to jointly advance comprehensive cancer care. More information is available at this link: Cantabria y La Rioja firman una declaración de intenciones para avanzar en la atención al cáncer integral en varias comunidades autónomas – Comunicados – cantabria.es
During the annual EUnetCCC meeting, participants discussed progress on the CCC accreditation process and the development of the European network of these centers, with particular attention to data management, capacity building in lower-resourced centers, and the active role of patients. This participation reaffirms Cantabria’s commitment to improving patient access to diagnostic methods, treatments, and high-quality comprehensive cancer care.
Access a video with more details on this initiative at the following link: EUnetCCC | European Network of Comprehensive Cancer Centres
