CHEMOTHERAPY patients stand a better chance of keeping their hair, after a £30,000 donation funded four new cancer cooling caps.

The kit aims to reduce hair loss by lowering the temperature of the scalp, reducing blood flow and cutting the dose of chemotherapy drugs reaching hair follicles on the scalp.

Great Western Hospital said the cooling caps would come into service this month and be used by up to 150 patients a year. The new equipment, bought with cash raised by hospital charity Brighter Futures, replaces ageing eight-year-old kit. GWH is the first hospital in the country to use this latest cooling cap equipment from Yorkshire firm Paxman PCS.

Helen Winter, lead chemotherapy nurse at the Marlborough Road hospital, said: "We’re delighted to be able to continue offering this service to our cancer patients.

"I am very grateful to everyone who has supported the teams in fundraising for the new scalp cooling units.

"The importance of being able to provide such equipment cannot be underestimated.

"The team is very excited about using the new units as they fully appreciate the positive impact this will have on so many patients treated with chemotherapy.”

Losing hair is an unfortunate side effect of some chemotherapy treatments, as the drugs designed to attack rapidly-growing cancer cells also battle other new cells like those that create hair.

But GWH chemotherapy patient Helen Simpson said the cooling caps had helped her keep the majority of her hair: "It does add a little time to your treatment but well worth giving it a try. You already have so many other side affects you are coping with, losing your hair doesn't need to be one of them. Although not an essential part of treatment it was without doubt a real bonus for me to keep my hair."

Brighter Futures raised £30,000 to help fund the new machines, with public donations and grants from the Dr Thomas Cranston Wilson Charitable Trust, the Hospital Saturday Fund and Zurich Community Trust.

Catherine Newman, head of the GWH charity, said: “Being able to invest in the latest scalp cooling systems means that patients can benefit from latest technological improvements so they stand the best chance of retaining their hair during treatment.

"We’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped us achieve this."

To donate to Brighter Futures, visit www.brighterfuturesgwh.nhs.uk or call 01793 605631.