I am one of the founders of an organization that raised an enormous amount of money for cancer research, with the all-time high of 32 million euros in one year (2012). We donated this money to the Dutch Cancer Society and it was spent on cancer research. From as early as 2010, we had this feeling that we need a lot of money for cancer research but the most important questions did not come to the table: “Are we doing the right things?’ and ‘How do we spend money in a way that has most benefit for patients?”

Why, so often, do we gain knowledge through excellent research but do not implement this research? Why do we not execute what we already know? To quote Sir David Lane: “When you don’t execute what you already know, it’s a bloody scandal.” I most certainly agree and would like to add: “And we lose too many patients because of this.” Therefore, change is needed in healthcare because it appears that it doesn’t update itself in practice at the rate it produces knowledge on improvement.

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