A NEW Pioneering cancer treatment launched today at Great Western Hospital thanks to generous donations from the public.

GWH is the only hospital in the south west which provides the intra-operative radiotherapy to those with breast cancer.

The service has launched following a public campaign, in support of charity Brighter Futures, which raised around £110,000.

Unlike traditional methods of radiotherapy, this new treatment works by giving patients a single dose of radiotherapy while they are still in the operating theatre.

This means that following surgery patients will not have to travel for weeks to either Bath or Oxford for radiotherapy treatment.

Jennifer Green, Brighter Futures’ head of fundraising, thanked everybody who helped raise the money to fund the new treatment.

She said: “It costs £150,000 to offer this treatment for one year. We originally set out to raise £75,000, with the other £75,000 being provided upfront by Brighter Futures.

“The people of Swindon and Wiltshire smashed the target and, at the last count, we had raised around £110,000.

"This is fantastic as it means that more of the cost is covered by the community contribution and that Brighter Futures can invest more funds into other worthy projects.”

Brighter Futures is a the charity which supports the staff, patients, families and services at GWH as well as looking to improve community health services across Wiltshire.