CANCER patients will soon be able to receive life-saving radiotherapy treatment on their doorstep – if the Great Western Hospital (GWH) can raise £2.9 million.

Today(may28), Brighter Futures, the charitable arm of the Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, officially launches the fundraising appeal for a radiotherapy unit set to change the lives of hundreds of patients each year.

To mark the official launch of the bid, 284 helium balloons will be released at 2pm today(may28) to mark the number of patients who are diagnosed with cancer each month at GWH.

Jen Green, Brighter Futures’ head of fundraising, said: “We need everyone to get on board, whether that’s individuals who want to donate, groups of people who want to fundraise with us or local businesses looking for a fantastic charity to support.

“Many local people have been affected by cancer themselves or have friends and family who have experienced cancer and so know the difference bringing radiotherapy closer to home will make.

“The support for our breast cancer treatment appeal last year was overwhelming. I know that the people of Wiltshire will do all they can to support our new appeal and rise to this much greater challenge in terms of the amount we need to raise.

“Over the next two years, there will be lots of ways to get involved including different events.

“I am sure participants will also come up with wild and wacky ways of generating money for this worthy appeal.”

Last year, 700 patients made daily gruelling 70-mile trips to Oxford’s Churchill Hospital to receive the treatment lasting for anything from four to seven weeks.

But Money raised through the appeal will help to cut down these journey times and aid recovery by funding the treatment, which will be provided by Oxford University Hospitals Trust (OUH), in a dedicated centre at the GWH.

OUH Trust director of clinical services, Paul Brennan, said: “It has long been our ambition to reduce the travel time for patients from the Swindon and Wiltshire area who are receiving radiotherapy in our hospitals.

“We are proud of the excellent facilities and services that we can provide for patients at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, but we want to reduce the travel time and inconvenience for patients from outside of Oxfordshire.

“We are therefore delighted at the prospect of working with GWH to deliver our services to cancer patients in Swindon and Wiltshire from a site locally.”

While the expansion of OUH’s service is still subject to final approval, planning is in the advanced stages and treatment could be available by December 2017.

Dr Guy Rooney, GWH Trust medical director, said: “Bringing radiotherapy treatment to Swindon will make such a difference to local patients and their families, friends and carers and will be an excellent addition to the facilities already available at GWH.

“We are working closely with our colleagues at Oxford to make this vision a reality and I am sure that local people will get behind the fundraising appeal.”

For more information about the radiotherapy appeal and how you can support it, visit www.brighterfuturesgwh.nhs.uk.

CASE STUDY

“IT’S an inconvenience really,” said Sharon Jennings, who will make her last trip to Oxford to receive radiotherapy this week.

The 44-year-old, of Frankton Gardens, Stratton, has travelled to the Churchill Hospital every day for five weeks to receive treatment for breast cancer, relying on her family to help her make the 90-minute round trip each morning.

“I never realised that I’d have to go every day,” she said.

“Some people have to go every day for eight weeks or so, and I don’t have to rely on hospital transport because my family take me so I’m probably one of the lucky ones.

Swindon Advertiser:

  • Sharon Jennings, who has had to go to Oxford for radiotherapy

"Some people have to wait all day to be taken there.

“It just seems such a way to go to. Once you’re on the bed the treatment itself only takes three or four minutes, so you have to take the whole morning for just a few minutes of treatment.

“The treatment itself is very tiring, and with the travel on top of that as well, it is tiring.

“It can take the whole morning, and I am lucky because I haven’t been too unwell, touch wood, and it must be even worse for older people and people who have been more unwell.”

Sharon said the new unit would help to cut down on travelling times, and make it easier for people to receive treatment.

“It’s surprising that with a town of this size, there isn’t already a facility at the GWH,” she said.

“I would say it is a necessity really.

“Half the patients in the waiting room for treatment at Oxford must be from Swindon.

“I think it’s really important that with a hospital the size of the GWH it offers the facilities that local people need.”

 

TOWN MPs PETITION NHS AND GOVERNMENT

SWINDON MPs Robert Buckland and Justin Tomlinson have also got behind the appeal, urging the NHS and the Government to bring a dedicated unit to the GWH.

In a joint letter to Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England and Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, the politicians reiterated how the unit could prove life-changing for cancer patients.

“Cancer patients in Swindon have always suffered because of the lack of a dedicated radiotherapy unit in what is the fastest expanding town in the country,” they said.

“Currently, our constituents who require life-saving treatment are required to travel to hospitals in Oxford or Bristol – something that is both costly to the NHS and has a profoundly negative impact on the health of residents diagnosed with cancer. 

“Many of our fellow local residents who need to access radiotherapy have contacted us to share their experiences of the system.

“The overwhelming majority feel that while they receive excellent care thanks to the Government’s record investment in the NHS and cancer services, they feel that the travel required is detrimental to their treatment.

“There is now a joint proposal in place from the Swindon CCG and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust to develop a dedicated centre at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon. 

“The centre could open in April 2017, ensuring that local patients who rely on radiotherapy treatment can be treated locally and the need to travel long distances can be removed, thus improving care outcomes.

“Swindon CCG is creating significant investment over the next few years to try to bring this much-needed service to Swindon quicker than would be otherwise possible, however we would be grateful if your department would support the proposal and you could work with officials to ensure that this proposal is brought to fruition.”

 

WORTH THE WAIT

FOR years, cancer patients have campaigned to bring a dedicated radiotherapy unit to the Great Western Hospital.
n November 2009: Plans to bring the £7 million project to fruition are underway, with regular meetings held between NHS Swindon and Swindon Borough Council’s Swindon Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee.
July 2011: Former Mayor and lung cancer victim Rex Barnett joins growing calls for a dedicated unit.

  • August 2011: Patients urged to form action group to garner support for campaign.
  • December 2012: Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust agree in principle to help fund radiotherapy centre.
  • October 2013: GWH applies for funding for intra-operative radiotherapy treatment for breast cancer.
  • January 2014: OUHT board backs developing plans for unit.
  • February 2014: OUHT pledge up to £14.7 million to new scheme, leaving £3 million to be raised charitably.
  • March 2014: Launch of GWH’s charitable arm, Brighter Futures, appeal to bring groundbreaking breast cancer radiotherapy treatment, intra-operative radiotherapy, to the hospital.
  • May 2014: Breast cancer radiotherapy appeal reaches £10,000.
  • June 2014: Dedicated centre approved by NHS Trust Development Authority Capital Investment Group.
  • July 2014: Proposals for new unit at GWH submitted to Swindon Borough Council.
  • October 23 2014: Swindon Borough Council grant planning permission for the new unit. Plans for the single-storey unit, which would eventually be part of a larger cancer centre, include an internal courtyard to allow natural light to filter through the building and make the setting as reassuring, welcoming and calming as possible for patients, 24 parking spaces and five dedicated disabled bays.
  • September 2014: Donations to breast cancer appeal reaches £55,000.
  • December 2014: Breast cancer radiotherapy appeal reaches £75,000 fundraising target.
  • March 2015: GWH begins to deliver breast cancer radiotherapy treatment.
  • May 28 2015: Brighter Futures launch of fundraising appeal for radiotherapy centre.