On behalf of ThymicUK, Karen Ruddock and Ruth Priestley attended the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG) annual conference which took place in Dublin on 29 to 31January 2020. It is a conference at which doctors, nurses, advocates, and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry (over 1000+ participants) come together to discuss research and developments in the diagnosis and treatment of thoracic cancers. In our capacity as patient advocates, we engaged with healthcare professionals across the country to raise awareness of our group, with Oxford, the Midlands, Leeds, Hull and Newcastle as a particular focus to identify and locate patients in those areas and we had the opportunity to talk with other patient advocates about their experiences and learnings. Along with the support of Marrika Colvin and Marie Eaton, ThymicUK has now featured in the Lung Cancer Nurse UK Bulletin.

We are especially pleased to be able to share with you that BTOG is formally establishing a multi-disciplinary sub-committee to improve the awareness and treatment of thymic cancers. ThymicUK will join the sub-committee as required, representing the perspectives of patients. The sub-committee has provisionally agreed to seek to establish national guidance for the assessment and treatment of thymic cancers. Further details of the membership, remit and timeframes will follow in due course. This is a particularly exciting development as it should help to standardise the care that we, as patients, can expect to receive.

There was one poster relating to the treatment of Thymic cancers, and a copy of that poster is here (our thanks to the authors for allowing us to put it on our website).