More than 4,500 cancer specialists will gather in Göteborg, Sweden this weekend for their annual conference of sessions, lectures, and presentations. Unfortunately most patients have to shuffle from place to place for different aspects of treatment but the conference organisers have just announced that in 2011 Sweden will launch a new process for treating cancer, which is unique in Europe. The concept of ‘distributed competence’ involves eight Swedish university hospitals performing treatment plans close to the patients’ home, with the patients then treated in a single place. It would be good to see the idea extended to the UK too wouldn’t it?