A specialist NHSGGC team caring for people with brain tumours across the West of Scotland has this week been recognised as one of the UK’s leading neuro-oncology services.
The adult neuro-oncology service at the Institute of Neurological Sciences (INS) has been designated a Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence, following a rigorous assessment of the treatment, care and research opportunities available to patients.
Glasgow is one of six UK neuro-oncology centres receiving the designation this year, joining 14 centres recognised previously.
And the award means specialist brain tumour services for both adults and children on the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital campus now hold Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence status, after the Royal Hospital for Children received its paediatric designation in 2025.
The adult designation follows an expert-led review covering the whole brain tumour pathway, alongside patient feedback collected by The Brain Tumour Charity. Reviewers assess services against standards covering treatment, care and research before awarding Centre of Excellence status.
The Glasgow team was particularly commended for its outstanding neuroimaging service, innovative and rapidly developing neuropathology provision, dedicated neurology services, and an internationally significant clinical trials portfolio.
The successful application was led by Dr Emanuela Molinari, Consultant Neurologist, and Dr Willie Stewart, Consultant Neuropathologist, who brought colleagues from across Glasgow’s multidisciplinary neuro-oncology service together to demonstrate the breadth of work taking place throughout the patient pathway.
Dr Molinari said the recognition belonged to everyone involved in the service. “This is a real team achievement. Our clinical nurse specialists, allied health professionals and colleagues across every specialty have worked together with a shared goal, and that teamwork is reflected in the experience of our patients.
“A brain tumour diagnosis brings a period of huge uncertainty for patients and their families. Suddenly they are navigating a complex journey and meeting many different specialists, often while trying to understand what happens next.
“Having the standard of the service independently reviewed and recognised can provide some reassurance at a frightening time. Ultimately, patients won’t judge us by a designation, but by the care they experience. If this recognition can help make the start of that journey a little easier, that is hugely valuable.”
The Glasgow service brings together specialists including neurosurgeons, oncologists, neurologists, neuropathologists, neuroradiologists and neuropsychologists, alongside clinical nurse specialists and allied health professionals. Individual patients are discussed at a weekly multidisciplinary team meeting, helping specialists work together to plan and deliver their care.
The service cares for patients across a wide geographical area, including Lanarkshire and the islands, while members of the specialist team themselves work across several sites, including the QEUH campus and the Beatson Cancer Centre.
Dr Stewart said the assessment process itself had helped bring colleagues together and recognise the strength of the service they had built.
“Being recognised as a Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence is recognition and due reward for the exceptional efforts of our multidisciplinary team.
“When we began the application, we asked colleagues from across the service to provide evidence of the work they were doing. What came back were large volumes of exceptionally good material. In the end, one of our biggest challenges was deciding which examples of excellence we could actually fit into the application.
“But what was particularly valuable was bringing the whole team together and giving us the opportunity to stand back, look at what we have achieved and think about where we go next. This isn’t the end of that process. We want to keep improving the service we provide for patients.”
The review highlighted developments across the Glasgow service, including advanced neuroimaging and innovation in molecular diagnostics. Dr Molinari also highlighted the expansion of the clinical nurse specialist team as an important development in recent years, while identifying strengthened allied health professional provision as an area the team wants to build on further.
Looking to the future, the team is also focused on advances that could make a practical difference to patients.
Dr Stewart hopes developments in molecular diagnostics will eventually allow the time taken to provide patients with a final integrated diagnosis to fall from around three weeks to a matter of days, helping people move towards the most appropriate treatment sooner. Dr Molinari is keen to develop prehabilitation and further work around patient-reported outcomes, helping teams understand patients’ symptoms and quality of life as well as treating their tumour.
Craig Broadfoot, Interim Director of Regional Services at NHSGGC, said: “This is an outstanding achievement and I would like to congratulate everyone across our neuro-oncology services who has contributed to it.
“Centre of Excellence status is important recognition of the expertise, dedication and teamwork that goes into caring for people with brain tumours across the West of Scotland, often at an incredibly difficult time in their lives.
“I am particularly pleased that with our paediatric neuro-oncology service already holding the designation, both adult and children’s services on the QEUH campus are now recognised as Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence.
“The team should be enormously proud of this recognition, but what comes through just as strongly is their determination to keep improving services for patients and families in the years ahead.”
The Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence programme was launched in 2021 following Dame Tessa Jowell’s call for every person diagnosed with a brain tumour to have access to excellent treatment, care and research opportunities, wherever they live.
Nicky Huskens, Chief Executive of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission, said: “Congratulations to the team at Glasgow. This award is a testament to the hard work of an incredible team working above and beyond to deliver a world-class brain tumour service. Designation as a Centre of Excellence means more than just excellent care – it is a commitment to constantly improving, going further and faster for this patient group.”
