Worcestershire's Conservative Parliamentary team for the next general election, made up of MPs Peter Luff and Julie Kirkbride, together with Parliamentary Candidates Harriett Baldwin, Mark Garnier, Karen Lumley and Robin Walker, are calling for a new radiotherapy unit to be based in the heart of Worcestershire at the Royal Hospital in Worcester.
The costs are extensive - £1.5 million per machine, together with specially built concrete bunkers to protect staff and the environment - and so a period of public consultation is underway, due to be completed in March / April this year.
In a joint statement, Peter Luff MP, Julie Kirkbride MP, Harriett Baldwin, Mark Garnier, Karen Lumley and Robin Walker said:
"We are committed to work together for this very important improvement to cancer care for the people of Worcestershire. This is about an issue that is bigger than our individual constituencies. By working together on this vital service, we will be able to achieve more for all our constituents. Travel times will be significantly reduced, together with costs to patients. But more importantly, waiting times will go down and outcomes will improve."
Harriett Baldwin, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for West Worcestershire added, "Many people in the southern part of Worcestershire are already able to travel conveniently to Cheltenham for radiotherapy. However, for people from Malvern to Tenbury Wells, as well as Pershore and Kempsey, it will clearly be more convenient to go to Worcestershire Royal."
Cancer care in Worcestershire is provided by The 3 Counties Cancer Network - one of 34 cancer care networks across the country. The 3 Counties Cancer Network covers Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, South Worcestershire and part of Powys. It consists of four District General Hospitals; Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal, Hereford County and Worcestershire Royal; five Primary Care Trusts; South Worcestershire, Herefordshire, West Gloucestershire, Cotswold & Vale and Cheltenham & Tewkesbury; and the voluntary sector providers of cancer care. Importantly, cancer Networks are based on the clinical referral pathways between providers of care, rather than other NHS boundaries that are based geographically around counties.
Within the 3 Counties, Radiotherapy is located within the oncology department at Cheltenham General Hospital, and this comprises 4 linear accelerators. However, advances in medicine mean that more cancers are treatable with more complex radiation treatments. This means that more Linear Accelerators are needed in the three counties. With Royal College of radiologist guidelines suggesting 6.5 linear accelerators per million of population, we will need to increase from the current 4 machines to 7 by 2011.
A fifth machine is due to be installed in Cheltenham this year, and practice means that machines need to be located in pairs, to ensure maintenance is cheaper and does not impinge on patient's treatment. So the big question is: where will the 6th and 7th machines be located?
With treatment often requiring 5 days per week treatment for several weeks, many patients within the 3 counties face two hours travel each way for a prolonged period. That is why Worcestershire Conservatives are calling for the two future machines to be located in the heart of Worcestershire."