National Cancer Clinical Director visits NNUH world class facilities
Professor Chris Harrison, National Cancer Clinical Director for NHS England has visited Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH).
Hosted by Mark Davies, Chief Executive of NNUH, Professor Harrison saw the world class cancer facilities at the Trust including the radiotherapy cancer treatment building, the Winterton Unit, and the Weybourne Day Unit which has been completely refurbished and has 24 chemotherapy treatment chairs.
Also Medical Director at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, Chris said: “Across the country, 2,100 more people survived cancer compared with last year. It was fascinating to visit the specialist cancer treatment units at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital – the facilities are first class and provide specialist services for over one million people. It was a pleasure to meet the dedicated staff whose hard work has led to reduced waiting times and improved care for patients and their families.”
He also met with members of the cancer team including Dr Rob Wade, Oncology Service Director and Dr Jo Ponnampalam, Consultant Paediatrican and shared care oncologist.
Dr Wade said: “We are really proud of our radiotherapy services, we have a new superficial radiotherapy unit – specialist equipment with advanced technology for cancers on and close to the surface of the skin, and a state of the art brachytherapy suite for gynaecology and prostate cancer treatment.
“The Weybourne Day unit expansion is also really impressive with the 24 chairs to increase our capacity to offer systemic anticancer therapy. We work closely with surgical, haematology and oncology palliative care colleagues to offer patients state of the art treatments.”
Dr Ponnampalam said: “The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is a level 2 Paediatric Oncology Shared Care Unit (POSCU) where children with cancer are able to have their care safely and locally. It was good to hear from Chris as national cancer director on his vision for cancer services as part of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan and good to discuss our service with him.”
Mark Davies, chief executive at NNUH said: “We have seen a huge demand for our cancer services across multiple specialties. Our teams provide excellent specialist treatments and we are incredibly proud of our staff, our state of the art cancer facilities and the care we provide for our patients. We are also delighted to be working with Macmillan Cancer Support which has funded a new Survivorship Team, to assess patient’s individual holistic needs and signpost them to support at key points in their cancer journey. This involves looking at all aspects of the patient’s life and working with them to ensure their physical, emotional and social needs are met.”