THE CEO of a Worcestershire charity has been asked to join the first government taskforce for childhood cancer.

Dr Jen Kelly, founder of the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust, will join MPs, parents and other charity leaders to look for ways to improve cancer care for children and young adults across the UK.

It is hoped the development of the new childhood cancer task force will give children faster access to new treatments and earlier diagnosis.

Health secretary, Victoria Atkins, has said she wants to “make child cancer care faster, simpler and fairer for all.”

Mrs Atkins said: “This taskforce will help bring together world-leading experts and those who have dedicated their lives to fighting cancer to discuss how we can go further faster and to drive progress in cancer care for children and young people.”

The taskforce will be led by Dame Caroline Dinenage, a Conservative MP who started a campaign after being approached by her constituent Charlotte Fairall whose 10-year-old daughter Sophie died from sarcoma in 2021.

Dr Kelly’s daughter Grace died in 2014 just weeks after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.

Dr Kelly, a former GP from Crowle, set up the charity in 2016 in a bid to raise awareness and campaign for kinder cancer treatments.

She said: “It is an honour to have been invited to join this taskforce at Westminster, which could do so much to improve survival rates for children with cancer.

“As a GP but also as a bereaved parent, this has become my life work to make a difference to all children with cancer, like Grace.

“Thank you so much to Charlotte Fairall, of Sophie’s Legacy for her tireless work in making this a reality and for her wonderful support of all the Grace Kelly Childhood Cancer Trust early diagnosis work. Together, Sophie, Grace and so many other children are helping us move mountains.”

Dame Caroline Dinenage, MP said: “This taskforce presents an opportunity to take dedicated action on these cancers, working across organisations to unify and drive progress.

“It offers us the chance to meaningfully change how we detect, treat and care for children and young people with cancer… Thank you for your tireless efforts on behalf of children and young people with cancer. I look forward to working with you to progress this important initiative.”

Cancer is the biggest killer by disease of children and young people in the UK.

One child in every 450 receives a diagnosis of cancer before their 15th birthday, and of these children, one in five do not survive.

Cancer in children is very different to cancer in adults, yet until now, it has just been bolted onto adult cancer targets and not received the recognition it deserves.