A CANCER charity is bringing a cutting edge form of radiotherapy to the region as it marks a major milestone.

Rosemere Cancer Foundation is to mark its 25th anniversary by ‘revolutionising’ how radiotherapy treatment is delivered to cancer patients throughout Lancashire and south Cumbria.

The cancer charity has launched its 25 Years Anniversary Guiding Light Appeal, which will bring SGRT – Surface Guided Radiotherapy Treatment – to Rosemere Cancer Centre, Lancashire and south Cumbria’s specialist radiotherapy and cancer treatment centre at the Royal Preston Hospital.

SGRT’s arrival this summer at a cost of £1.3 million will make Rosemere Cancer Centre only the second cancer centre in the North West (second to The Christie in Manchester) to provide it and only the 15th out of the UK’s total 65 specialist cancer centres, which are dotted across the whole of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Dan Hill, chief officer of Rosemere Cancer Foundation, said: “The benefits of SGRT to patients both physically and psychologically are huge and cannot be over-stated. There have been more than a hundred peer-reviewed published studies supporting its clinical efficacy but the equipment needed to provide it is above and beyond standard NHS provision, which is why it is still a rarity in this country.

“We wanted to do something special to mark our latest milestone birthday and we felt that this couldn’t be topped given the numbers of patients SGRT will benefit.”

An estimated 11,000 people are newly diagnosed with cancer annually across the region.

Of these, many will receive treatment plans involving radiotherapy, which can be used in the treatment of breast cancer, prostate cancer, bowel and bladder cancers, as well as head and neck cancers such as throat cancer.

Currently, the cancer centre delivers approximately 45,000 doses of radiotherapy treatment annually to about 3,800 patients (roughly 240 patients a day, five days a week) via seven linear accelerator machines (linacs), which are housed in their own individual treatment rooms.

Starting in the summer, the plan is to convert six linacs plus one CT scanner to SGRT with breast cancer patients to be the first to benefit.

“We will run the appeal along the exact same lines as our previous birthday appeal, which means we will take delivery of the SGRT equipment first and pay it off as donations come in,” said Mr Hill.

“We are obviously very grateful to its manufacturer, Vision RT, for enabling us to do this.”

Tracey Ellis, oncology clinical director for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, which manages Rosemere Cancer Centre, and who applied to Rosemere Cancer Foundation for SGRT funding, said: “We are delighted to be one of the first UK centres to bring SGRT technology to our radiotherapy patients.

“The advantages it gives us in terms of setting patients up in the correct position with the least amount of manual handling, the reduction in closed mask usage and no tattoos, which can be a constant and for some patients, psychologically damaging reminder of their cancer, while delivering treatment with the highest level of accuracy currently possible will revolutionise patients’ whole experience of radiotherapy and bring a new level of job satisfaction to staff throughout the department.”

To make a donation to the 25 Years Anniversary Guiding Light Appeal, visit www.rosemere.org.