In 2007, the ENETS Executive Committee agreed to form a task force to investigate the feasibility of establishing Centers of Excellence. A network of centers would allow NET patients to seek specialists who could best treat them, and would also unify the care and research being conducted in the NET field across Europe.
The task force established a pilot certification process based on independent evaluation and auditing in association with a European-accredited medical health care evaluation company, GSG Dortmund. The test phase was rigorous, requiring months of preparation at each center. The hospitals selected to participate in the test phase in 2008 and 2009 (based on a high number of patients treated in their centers) included: Charite University Hospital in Berlin; Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen; Royal Free Hospital, London; Hopital Beaujon, Clichy in Paris; Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam; and University Hospital, Uppsala in Sweden.
In 2010, ENETS received nearly two dozen applications from institutes across Europe, seeking Center certification. Twelve were selected to begin the rigorous certification process. Among those, ten were selected: Zentrum für Neuroendocrine Tumore, Bad Berka, Germany; Section for Digestive Diseases, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway; Marburger NET Zentrum at Philipps University, Marburg, Germany; University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium; Merseyside Regional Neuroendocrine Service, Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Hopital Edouard Herriot, Lyon, France; Christie Neuroendocrine Tumour Service, Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom; Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan, Italy; Oxford NET Centre at Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals, Oxford, United Kingdom; and the Multidisciplinary Group for Diagnosis and Treatment of Neuroendocrine Tumours of the Umbria, Regional Cancer Network, Perugia, Italy. The new centers were recognized in Lisbon on 10 March 2011.