When Stu was diagnosed with glioblastoma, I had absolutely no idea what good brain tumour care was supposed to look like. You are told the diagnosis, introduced to a team of people whose job titles you are still trying to understand and suddenly expected to make decisions about surgery, treatment and everything that comes afterwards. I didn't know whether the hospital we were in was the right hospital. I didn't know whether we needed another opinion. I didn't know what tests should be happening, what questions I should be asking or what might be available somewhere else. I just knew I wanted to find absolutely everything that might help Stu.

The Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission existed when Stu was diagnosed, but I understand what it represents much better now than I did then. For me, the useful bit isn't really knowing everything about the organisation itself. You can go to their website for that. It's understanding that there is now a framework for looking at what excellent brain tumour care should involve. I would have found that incredibly useful.

WHY TESSA JOWELL MATTERS

Dame Tessa Jowell was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2017. In January 2018, she stood in the House of Lords and spoke about the need for greater collaboration, better access to innovative treatments and a different approach to brain cancer research. She very sadly died a few months later. The Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission grew out of that call for change. I think that matters because so much of what she was talking about became horribly familiar to us a few years later.

When someone you love has a cancer with limited treatment options, you very quickly start asking why there aren't more of them. Why is a treatment available here but not there? Why is a particular test not routinely offered? Why are there trials you can't access? Why does finding the right person, treatment or piece of information sometimes seem to depend on how good you are at searching for it yourself? I asked versions of those questions throughout Stu's illness. That is the connection I have with the Mission. Not because we followed some neat Tessa Jowell pathway after diagnosis. We didn't. It's because I recognise the problems it is trying to solve.

CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE

One of the things you're likely to come across when researching brain tumour treatment in the UK is the Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence. There are currently 14 adult Centres of Excellence. When you are frightened and desperately looking for the best possible treatment, the phrase Centre of Excellence can sound enormously significant. I know exactly where my brain would have gone with that in 2021.

Is Stu being treated at one? Followed approximately three seconds later by: If he isn't, why the fuck aren't we at one? But it is a bit more nuanced than that.

The designation comes from a detailed review of neuro-oncology services looking at much more than the medical treatment of the tumour itself. It includes things like surgery, oncology, imaging and pathology, but also rehabilitation, psychological and supportive care, research, clinical trials and the way different parts of the service work together. Patient experience is part of it too. That makes the programme useful to me because it gives families some idea of what good brain tumour care should look like as a whole, rather than leaving us to work that out from scratch.

WHAT DOES THAT ACTUALLY MEAN?

What I wouldn't do is treat the list as a league table. A hospital having Centre of Excellence status doesn't automatically mean it has the best doctor for your particular tumour, the trial you need or the specific expertise you're looking for. And a hospital not having the designation doesn't mean you're receiving bad care. In fact, almost all of the UK's adult neuro-oncology centres have taken part in the Tessa Jowell review process. That distinction is really important because I know what it is like to be searching for anything that might improve someone's chances. Once you are in that mindset, it is very easy for something like Centre of Excellence to become another thing you think you have to chase. I wouldn't use it like that. I would use it as information.

SHOULD YOU CHANGE HOSPITALS?

Not simply because another hospital has Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence status. This surprised me when I looked into it properly. The Mission itself says that UK studies of people with glioblastoma have not found evidence that would justify moving patients between centres simply because one has Centre of Excellence status and another doesn't. That doesn't mean there are never reasons to seek treatment or expertise elsewhere. We did but not from a Tessa Jowell Centre of Excellence. There can be very good reasons to ask for a second opinion, speak to another neurosurgeon, look for expertise in a particular treatment or investigate a clinical trial somewhere else. But those are specific reasons.

“That hospital has a Centre of Excellence badge and mine doesn't” isn't, on its own, the same thing. I think knowing that would have saved me quite a lot of potential frantic Googling.

WHAT I WOULD LOOK FOR NOW

If we were back at the beginning, I wouldn't start by trying to find the supposedly best hospital in the country. I'd start with Stu. What does he need? Who has the most relevant surgical expertise for his tumour? Has the tumour been properly tested? Is there enough tissue stored if we want further testing later? Are there molecular results that might affect treatment or trial options? Are there relevant clinical trials? Do we need another opinion? Who has experience with the particular treatment or approach we're considering? What support is available when treatment starts affecting everyday life? Which hospital is logistically possible for the treatment needed? And if another hospital or doctor has something useful to add, can they become part of the picture without us necessarily moving everything? That's much closer to how I think about it now. There doesn't have to be one magical hospital containing every answer. Sometimes you need the right people around the same problem. That is why the Doctors and Second Opinions pages on this site exist too. We learnt very quickly that asking another person to look at the same problem can change what you know about your options.

HINDSIGHT

WHAT WE KNOW NOW THAT WE WISH WE'D KNOWN THEN

I wish someone had shown me what excellent brain tumour care was supposed to contain. Not because I think Stu would necessarily have been treated somewhere different. Because I would have known what questions to ask. When your husband has just been diagnosed with glioblastoma, you don't know what you don't know. You don't know whether something hasn't been mentioned because it isn't relevant, because it isn't available or just because nobody has mentioned it yet. So you research. Then you discover one thing which leads to another thing which leads to another thing and suddenly it's 2am and you have 47 browser tabs open and you're trying to understand molecular pathology. At least, that's how I did it. I would still research now. I would still ask questions. I would still seek other opinions and look outside our immediate hospital when I thought there might be something useful elsewhere. But I would have loved a framework at the beginning that helped me understand what good care looked like before I had to work it out for myself. That's why I think the work of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission is so important. Not a list telling you where you should go. A better understanding of what you should be able to expect. And a body that is raising standards across brain tumour care. 

CURRENT INFORMATION · 2026

TESSA JOWELL CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE

There are currently 14 adult Tessa Jowell Centres of Excellence in the UK. The current designations were announced in May 2025 and run for three years. I haven't reproduced the list here because accreditations change and some of the designated services are networks involving several hospitals. The Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission maintains the current list on its website.

WHAT IS ASSESSED?
The adult programme looks across the whole neuro-oncology pathway. That includes surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, neurology, imaging and pathology, alongside rehabilitation, psychological and supportive care, staff development, research and clinical trials. Patient feedback is also included in the assessment.

NOT JUST THE DESIGNATED CENTRES

Almost all UK adult neuro-oncology centres have participated in the programme. The information gathered through the reviews is also used to identify gaps, share good practice and support services to improve. So the point isn't just to award some hospitals a title. Part of the work is about improving brain tumour care more widely which frankly is incredible.

DOES A CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE MEAN BETTER OUTCOMES?

Not necessarily. The Mission states that UK cohort studies of people with glioblastoma have found similar outcomes across the UK and no evidence that patients should move between centres just because of Centre of Excellence designation. There may still be individual reasons to seek another opinion, specialist expertise, a clinical trial or treatment elsewhere.

THE WIDER MISSION

The Centres of Excellence are only one part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission. Its current work also includes professional training, improving access to genomic testing and precision medicine, supporting neuro-oncology fellowships and helping promising new brain tumour treatments progress towards clinical trials. If you want to understand the organisation and everything it is currently working on, its own website is the best place to do that.

Medical disclaimer: This website shares our personal experience of glioblastoma and is not medical advice. Always discuss treatment decisions with your medical team.

FURTHER READING & RESOURCES

TESSA JOWELL BRAIN CANCER MISSION
The Mission's own website, including its current work and programmes.

TESSA JOWELL CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE
Current information about the adult Centres of Excellence programme and designated services.

2025 CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE
Information about the latest adult review and what was assessed.

THE STORY BEHIND THE MISSION
More about Tessa Jowell's diagnosis, campaigning and how the Mission began.

tessa jowell brain cancer mission