Would you like us to contact you in the future? Under new Data protection rules we will not be able to contact you unless you allow us to. If you are happy to hear about Pelican’s work and events in the future please take a moment to fill in the form below.
Archives for December 2017
The SPECC National Development Programme has successfully completed
Significant Polyps and Early Colorectal Cancer – SPECC
Thanks to excellent guidance from our steering group we started the SPECC National Development Programme workshops in London in November 2015. Since then we have run 14 more workshops across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland – making it an international programme.
The aims of the programme were to:
- Define a significant polyp and identify an early colorectal cancer
- Recognise a SPECC and how this is best achieved
- Document and describe SPECC to better aid multi-disciplinary decision making
- Plan carefully – ‘think twice and cut once’, making sure that the first shot it the best as these are ‘high value lesions’. Careful decision making about the use of biopsy and whether they add value. Take time and use regional and national resources, refer to experts – ‘another day, another endoscopist, another hospital’
- Treatment – first treatment gives the best outcome. Low risk lesions can be safely removed endoscopically. MDT decision must include expert endoscopist
There was a core faculty of 10 with another 90 specialists joining the SPECC faculty to help with presentations and case studies.
1,237 clinicians attended a workshop over the 25 months that the programme ran. These people came from 178 hospitals in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. A third of those attending were consultant surgeons.
The programme was free for 6 core members of each colorectal MDT as long as this included a surgeon, gastroenterologist, pathologist, radiologist and specialist nurse.
Feedback:
‘Very interesting, well organised, fascinating’
‘Very high standard of talks & discussion’
‘Imaging and precision improves definitive treatment’
‘Think twice, cut once’
‘Super informative day – well done Pelican’
‘This was an excellent meeting and a lot of very interesting topics – valuable information for MDT management’
‘More awareness of polyp presentation and input of MDT in management decisions’
Achievement
Nearly every hospital throughout the UK and Ireland has now spent time considering this small but challenging cohort of patients who present with SPECC. The multi-disciplinary members of the MDT have a greater awareness of the difficulties and uncertainties that SPECC present and will have more confidence within their MDT discussion about the local treatments available and where to refer if need be.
Finally – we would like to thank everyone for their help. This programme was supported mainly by the generosity of Pelican charitable donations. We are very grateful for industry sponsorship – Norgine supported all of the workshops, Exact Sciences, Medtronic and Applied Medical also attended a small number of meetings.
Publication
Following the completion of the SPECC programme, we were delighted to work with members of the Faculty to compile a supporting supplement for publication – https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14631318/2019/21/S1. The publication is 65 pages, made up of 16 supplement articles and the key messages from the Faculty. It is in Free Access format, allowing anyone to view and download the papers, ensuring that the key reference points from the national programme are available for everyone to read.
Pelican Film Society
We hold film screenings once a month, from September to July, in the Squire Theatre at The Ark in Basingstoke.
Started in 2003, the Pelican Film Society shows films which either never made it to Basingstoke, or which came and went too quickly for most of us to see. It’s a great opportunity to see recent, art-house and classic films on the huge screen at The Ark Conference Centre.
Even better, it is all in support of a great cause, as all profits from the screenings go to Pelican Cancer Foundation to fight below the belt cancers. The charity is dedicated to improving survival and quality of life for bowel, bladder, prostate and secondary liver cancer patients. Since its inauguration, the Film Society has raised over £18,000 for the charity to help improve treatment for below-the-belt cancers through research and education for cancer specialists.
Renewals for 2018/19 – please click here for a form you can print out and return to us to renew your subscription. Alternatively, you can call us on 01256 314746 to make your annual payment.
Programme 2018
Darkest Hour – September 3rd
3 Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri – October 3rd
Phantom Thread – November 5th
Secret Life of Bees – December 3rd
Join Now
Annual Membership for the Film Season 2018/19 is £49.00 for 11 films. Pro rata membership rates are also available. This can be paid by cheque to the Pelican Film Society. Please click here to download the membership form.
Guest Tickets are £6 per person per film and can be paid in cash or by cheque on the night of the screening.
Get your monthly Film Screening Reminders
Sign up to our monthly email to receive screening reminders the week before each screening and be notified of any updates to the film programme. Simply subscribe to the Pelican Film Society emails via subscribe@pelicancancer.org.
(If you change your mind, you can update your marketing preferences at any time by contacting us on unsubscribe@pelicancancer.org.)
The Squire Theatre
The Ark
Dinwoodie Drive
Basingstoke
RG24 9NN
Free parking in The Ark’s car park (opposite The Ark Conference Centre).
Why not come early and have some food before the film? From 6pm, The Ark’s licensed Blue Café serves light refreshments.
Pelican Film Society
c/o Pelican Cancer Foundation
The Ark
Dinwoodie Drive
Basingstoke
RG24 9NN
T: +44 (0)1256 314 746
E: admin@pelicancancer.org
Fun Run Santas deliver Christmas cheer for Pelican!
High winds and driving rain failed to deter over 80 seasonal supporters who pulled on Santa suits to take part in our first ever Festive Fun Run. Breeze FM teamed up with Pelican for the festive fundraiser in War Memorial Park on Sunday, 10 December.
More than £6,500 has been raised from the event to date. Proceeds will fund Pelican’s clinical research into advancing precision surgery in the treatment of bowel, liver, bladder and prostate cancers. Breeze Weekend presenter Andy Green kept the festive spirits high with feel-good tunes and plenty of yuletide fun as participants ran around a 5km or 10 km course after a warm-up by Cormac Lisle-Fenwick from Fitness First.
The Mayor and Mayoress of Basingstoke and Deane, Cllr Paul Frankum and Cllr Jane Frankum, gave the official seal of approval, thanking everybody for supporting the charity and handing out medals to all the runners. Members of Basingstoke and Deane Rotary volunteered as marshals, and family and friends turned out to cheer on the participants.
Sarah Crane, Chief Executive at Pelican Cancer Foundation, praised everybody who took part. “We are delighted to have received such fantastic support from the local community for Pelican’s first Festive Fun Run.
“People of all ages turned out in the rain and mud to support us – they made a spectacular sight running in their Santa suits and certainly put the fun into fundraising. Our thanks to all involved – their support will make a real difference to local people being treated for ‘below the belt’ cancers.”
See you all next year for our 2018 Festive Fun Run!
Can you help?
Please consider donating to Pelican Cancer Foundation – our research studies rely completely on donations. Every penny counts and together we can make a difference.
Research: It is vital that we continue to investigate the most effective treatment for today’s cancer patients. Pelican supports the early stage of research studies – the grit of sand that creates the pearl. Many of our projects have led directly to changes in clinical practice whilst others have developed into big multi-national trials. Thanks to Pelican’s work thousands of patients are cured of their disease – but there is more to do.
Education: we embed new research and techniques by bringing together experts to discuss changes in practice. The surgeons who come on our programmes will change their practice when they get back to their hospital, the radiologist who learn about MRI for prostate cancer are likely to identify an aggressive cancer that would be completely missed using current ‘best practice’.
It is impossible to say exactly how many patients our charity touches every year but in the UK 40,000 patients are diagnosed with bowel cancer, 40,000 men with prostate cancer and 10,000 with bladder cancer. If only 30% have their diagnosis and treatment improved we impact on 30,000 people in the UK every year – and we work worldwide.
We all want the silver bullet that will end cancer, the pill that prevents all tumours developing but this is still unlikely in our lifetime and in the meantime Pelican is a pragmantic and effective charity that makes a difference for today’s patients.
There are many different ways you can support our work:
Pelican’s Christmas Fair a festive triumph!
Christmas shoppers found original and thoughtful gifts for everybody at Pelican Cancer Foundation’s popular festive fair this year.
Stylish jewellery, beautiful clothing, bags and accessories, cute childrenswear, hand-crafted tasty treats, and fun and inexpensive stocking fillers were on offer at The Vineyard Hotel and Spa, Stockcross, Newbury, on Monday 4 December.
The annual event attracted more than 500 visitors and raised £10,600. Proceeds will fund Pelican’s clinical research into advancing precision surgery in the treatment of bowel, liver, bladder and prostate cancers.
The festive atmosphere was enhanced by the Horris Hill School choir’s Christmas carols, there was a tombola and plenty of delicious food and drink to enjoy.
The Pelican Christmas Fair is only possible thanks to the fantastic help that so many volunteers give for the day.
Pelican chief executive Sarah Crane said: “Once again, Pelican was delighted to hold our Christmas fair at The Vineyard – and we were thrilled with the support we received in raising vital funding to help people with ‘below the belt’ cancers.
This day would not be possible if we didn’t have so many wonderful supporters – a fabulous committee helped run the day, the stallholders encouraged us to spend money and all the fantastic people who joined us.” We hope to see you all next year!
SPECC Wales – thought provoking network and discussion
Our Welsh SPECC workshop was attended by clinicians from all 11 Welsh hospitals that treat bowel cancer patients and many of the speakers also came from Welsh units.
The day went extremely well, this was an ideal opportunity for bowel cancer clinicians from across the principality to network and discuss this challenging topic. There is clearly a very good and supportive expert cohort that has set up a good referral service for early bowel cancers but not all doctors and nurses were fully aware of this. The feedback was very good, we asked clinicians if they would make any changes in their clinical practice and whilst some said ‘We already do much of this in MDT’ the majority talked about changes to the investigations, recognition and treatment they would offer in future – for example – to consider referring to complex polyp MDT and not biopsy routinely.
Overall, we had an excellent day of thought-provoking clinical questions & perspective of surgical colleagues!
Bake-It – set yourself a culinary challenge!
We’re asking you to host a Pelican Bake-It event! It’s simple – invite your guests to create their bake and then sell your cake. Select your winner and raise some dough for Pelican. Contact us today on 01256 314746 to find out more!