JANE-1 Joint Action: final stakeholder meeting and presentation in the European Parliament

Health networks, such as the Joint Action project on Networks of Expertise (JANE), may be defined as networks involving regular collaboration at a distance among healthcare professionals. These networks focus on items pertaining to the mission of the network.

The two-year JANE project, initiated in October 2022 as part of the EU4Health Program and endorsed by the EU Commission, aligns with the EU’s Beating Cancer Plan to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients across Europe. It has been coordinated by Fondazione Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori (FINT) in Milan, supported by 36 partners from 15 EU member states and one associated country.

The mission of JANE was to perform the preparatory activities needed to establish sustainable Networks of Excellence (NoE) on cancer to tackle the increasing cancer incidence and the higher demands for care, in a steadily ageing European population. The final stakeholder meeting was held in Brussels 24th-25th September 2024, also including a presentation at the European Parliament.”

Seven NoEs have been established covering several cancer areas: 1) Prevention, 2) Survivorship, 3) Palliative Care, 4) Poor Prognosis Cancers, 5) Omics Technology, 6) Hi-Tech Medical Technology, and 7) Adolescents and Young Adults. The JANE project will also focus on sustainability, coordination between the NoEs, information-technology infrastructure (including artificial intelligence), and patient involvement.

Oslo University Hospital (OUS) established the network in Palliative Care within this period. This NoE consists of 14 European countries and 20 cancer centres, including OUS. The main focus was to prepare a sustainable NoE integration of evidence-based palliative care into routine cancer care, ensuring equitable access to palliative care according to patient needs across all healthcare levels in EU member states.”

The call for a four-year extension of JANE was launched in 2023. The application proved successful, with the start set to November 1, 2024. OUS (Stein Kaasa) will continue its leadership of the Palliative Care NoE together with Augusto Caraceni (Italy), now including 20 countries and more than 30 institutions. The main activities will focus on integrating palliative care and oncology, including digital symptom assessment and management, with a strong emphasis on education and research across borders. We will seek close collaboration with EUnetCCC (formerly CRANE), ERNs (European Research Networks), professional organisations (ESMO, ECO, etc.), and patient and lay associations.

OUS JANE team: Stein Kaasa, Marianne J. Hjermstad, Line Foss