The Princess Máxima Centre for Paediatric Oncology

The Netherlands has 17 million inhabitants. Spread throughout the country are (academic) hospitals, in which a total of 800 children are treated for cancer annualy. The disadvantage is that relatively few treatments are carried out per physician and the research taking place is also spread across the country. For a country on the scale of the Netherlands it would be better if all complex healthcare along with the associated research would take place in one location. \n\nFor the Netherlands, it was unique that the initiative was taken by doctors and parents and not by traditional structures and institutions, to arrive at one specialist hospital and research institute for paediatric oncology: the Princess Máxima Centre (PMC). The decision to open the PMC has meanwhile been taken. It will become the largest healthcare and research centre in the field of paediatric cancer in Europe. \n\nThis paper is about the arrival of the Princess Máxima Centre to the Utrecht Science Park and the critical moments that this has entailed for all concerned.