Putting people and their well-being first has become a key expectation of more and more government programmes, especially within healthcare. As populations age, and with improved treatments and care, patients are prioritising quality of life for themselves and their loved ones. Nowhere is that more visible than in the field of cancer care.

People affected by cancer often face a dizzying array of hurdles – physical, emotional and social. Prioritising quality of life and placing patients at the centre of their care means addressing these impacts fully, while reducing the burden of cancer on societies and economies. However, cancer research and policy across Europe have yet to make the necessary transition.

Against this background, nine projects were funded by the EU Cancer Mission to develop new tools and interventions in:

• Supporting patients with their quality-of-life issues
• Implementing shared decision-making
• Improving care pathway coordination
• Incentivising policy change

The result? The Quality of Life – Patient-Centred Care Cluster. Each project addresses a specific unmet need.

• EUonQoL is developing a patient-centred unified tool for the assessment of quality of life among cancer patients and survivors
• EU-NAVIGATE is implementing and evaluating a navigation intervention for people with cancer in old age and their family caregivers
• INSPIRE is focusing on integrated short-term palliative rehabilitation to improve the quality of life and equitable care access in incurable cancer
• MyPath is developing and implementing innovative patient-centred care pathways for cancer patients
• PAINLESS is addressing pain relief in palliative care of cancer using home-based neuromodulation and predictive biomarkers
• PAL-CYCLES is developing, adapting, implementing, and evaluating a transitional palliative care programme for patients with advanced cancer, adaptable to local cultures and healthcare systems
• PREFERABLE-II is designing and evaluating a personalised exercise intervention for improvement of supportive cancer care
• RELEVIUM is tackling quality of life of advanced pancreatic cancer patients through an AI-guided multimodal intervention, combining pain and cachexia management, nutrition, and physical activity
• SERENITY is developing a shared decision-making process to facilitate treatment decisions regarding the appropriate use of antithrombotic therapy in cancer patients at the end of life

The upcoming ‘Quality of Life and Cancer Policy Forum’ will leverage the achievements of the nine projects for a high-level policy discussion, exploring how to design and implement cancer systems for better quality of life and patient-centred care. Through this event:

• Researchers and research funders will get inspired by best practices in public and patient involvement
• Healthcare professionals will learn about new tools and interventions they could apply in cancer care
• Health system managers will discover how to deploy a harmonised system-level quality of life measurement
• Decision-makers and advocates will get empowered to adopt new policy recommendations at EU and national level

This event is not about simply showcasing project success. It is about providing the essential lessons we need to implement and collaborate for fundamentally better patient care.