Success Story In Surrey!
First patient treated at new multi-million pound radiotherapy unit
St. Luke’s Cancer Centre staff at the new £10 million radiotherapy unit at East Surrey Hospital have welcomed their first patient.
The Royal Surrey County Hospital and East Surrey Hospital have worked together over the last three years to design, build and open a cutting edge cancer treatment unit in Redhill.
For Reigate resident Enoch Uthuba-Hatari this means the end of a 48-mile round trip each day. He can now have his treatment much closer to home, replacing the two buses and a train (to get to Guildford) with a quick ten-minute bus ride to his local hospital.
The 75 year old said: “It’s lovely having this on my doorstep as I don’t have to go to Guildford every day and the staff have all been wonderful.”
St. Luke’s Cancer Centre is a leading specialist tertiary cancer centre based at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford. Nick Moberly, Chief Executive at the Royal Surrey said: “We recognise that many of our patients have been travelling long distances, often on a daily basis, for treatment and are actively looking for ways to deliver these services more locally. Working with our partners at East Surrey Hospital, we’re proud to open this new state of the art radiotherapy unit and will continue to explore opportunities for similar initiatives.”
The unit has two ultra-modern Linear Accelerators (LINACs) which are able to deliver the most accurate and safest care. Radiotherapy patients have free parking at the unit which is staffed by highly specialist and experienced clinicians supported by the St. Luke’s Cancer Centre at the Royal Surrey County Hospital. They will also have access to a range of the latest clinical trials.
Michael Wilson, Chief Executive of Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs East Surrey Hospital, said: “This is good news for our patients who need radiotherapy as they can now have their treatment much closer to home. This brand new modern facility offers the best range of radiotherapy treatments currently available and means we can give the highest standard of care to people locally.”
Caption: Enoch Uthuba-Hatari and one of the Linear Accelerator in the new St Luke’s Radiotherapy Unit at East Surrey Hospital.