World class cancer centre opens

The next major transfer of hospital services from the old N & N to the new university hospital gets underway this week and will see the opening of a world-class cancer centre equipped with £20 million of state-of-the-art medical equipment.

The next two weeks sees a series of moves from the old hospital to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) and the opening of the Oncology and Haematology departments’ new Colney Centre to patients on December 16.

Next week’s moves to NNUH from the N&N include Radiotherapy, Oncology & Haematology, Wymondham, Walsingham, Barford, Brooke and Diss wards, operating theatres, Pharmacy, Radiology and other departments supporting the services currently at the N&N.

The transfer of a small number of in-patients from the old wards will take place over next Saturday and Sunday (December 14/15). The development of the Colney Centre has this year already seen a journey of more than 8,650 miles from San Francisco for three multi-million pound linear accelerators that have been installed at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

The equipment will offer the very latest forms of radiotherapy, including IMRT (intensity modulated radiation therapy). Varian Medical Systems, Inc is equipping the hospital with four state-of-the-art linear accelerators, a treatment simulator, and an afterloader for high dose rate brachytherapy.

The equipment not only offers an advanced range of treatments but also reduce some patient treatment times from many hours, down to minutes. It also provides software for processing images, and planning radiation treatments.

Patients will also find a lot of work has been done to make the clinical surroundings more pleasant and comfortable.

The Friends of Norwich Hospitals have very generously funded an £18,400 arts project to install lit ceiling and wall panels with attractive natural images created by artist Joey Fischer.

Chairman of the Friends of Norwich Hospitals David Wicks said: “We are obviously very pleased to have helped commission these striking ceiling and wall panels and we very much hope patients appreciate them.” The Colney Centre patients’ waiting area also features soothing wall panels with lit bubbling water and an Internet area.