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Date: 22 May 2012
Time: 17:16
No go for proton therapy centre?
Story posted/last updated: 12 December 2011
Senior clinical staff at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) have expressed huge disappointment over claims that it has lost out in its bid for a new cancer treatment centre.
UHB was one of three trusts shortlisted by the Department of Health for a proton beam therapy centre to provide state-of-the-art treatment for cancer patients.
But the BBC in the Midlands claimed today (Monday 12 December) that the rival bids from Manchester and London had been chosen as the sole locations for proton therapy - a form of radiotherapy which targets cancer more precisely.
The BBC is reporting that the information was revealed in an email from national cancer director Mike Richards.
Although the official line from the Department of Health is that no decision has yet been made, the BBC is claiming that Mr Richards has deemed the bids from University College London Hospital (UCLH) and Christies in Manchester as "the strongest".
The news, if confirmed, would be a setback for patients of UHB, which recently obtained two sophisticated TomoTherapy radiotherapy treatment machines, and is looking to purchase a CyberKnife – a robotic system capable of delivering high doses of radiation with incredible accuracy.
The NHS currently pays for cancer patients, both adults and children, to go abroad for treatment, mainly to the US.
It cost £4.7 million to treat 50 patients overseas in 2010/11, with nine of the patients referred by UHB.
Dr David Peake, UHB senior clinical oncologist, said that although they were delighted at the prospect of proton therapy being available in the UK, it would be “very disappointing” if Birmingham was not chosen to have a centre.
He said Birmingham already had a large number of patients they could treat with protons, and were one of the biggest referrals for treatment abroad.
But he added: “I think we have to be positive. We have got two TomoTherapy machines and we are hoping to get a CyberKnife, so we will still be a leading cancer centre that will provide the best treatment for patients.”
Professor Stuart Green, Director of Medical Physics at UHB, said Birmingham’s bid was “strong” and would be seeking feedback to see where it had apparently fallen short.
He added: “We still believe in bringing proton therapy to Birmingham, where all the clinical expertise can be brought together, and that having a larger number of smaller centres is better for patients.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Health insisted that the business case had still not been made for either a two-centre or three-centre proton therapy model.
But she confirmed that UCLH and Christies had submitted a joint bid from the outset which was regarded as the strongest in the event of only two centres being approved.
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