Speaker Meeting with partners, 6.45 for 7pm

It was a pleasure to welcome Catherine Newman and to receive an update on the Radiotherapy Appeal. This Appeal with a target of £2.9m was launched in 2015 and now needs just £0.6m more.   It’s receiving major support from the all the Rotary Clubs in the Swindon area and Catherine expressed her grateful thanks for all that Clubs like Swindon North are doing to support it.

It’s a common misconception that Brighter Futures is only about the Radiotherapy Appeal.  Currently it has 3 other ongoing appeals as well.  It is the charity for the GWH Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and it raises funds to provide an extra level of care for patients, their families and NHS staff.  It also funds research and new state-of-the-art equipment. It has a team of 5 people based in a small room in the GWH. 

Cancer affects one in three of the population and kills one in four.  Radiotherapy has been used in its treatment for more than a century.  It works by aiming a high dose of radiation towards a tumour to damage the affected cells’ DNA.  Any adjacent healthy cells are usually able to repair their DNA and avoid the fatal consequences of the radiation.  However, today’s machines have pinpoint accuracy to within a millimetre.

Swindon and parts of Wiltshire are one of the few parts of the country which do not have access to radiotherapy services within a 45 minute travel time. 284 people per month are diagnosed with cancer in the Swindon area and around 700 a year are making the 70-mile round trip journey to Oxford on a daily basis for the treatment which usually lasts for 4 to 7 weeks.  Hospitals in Cheltenham and Bath are also options but most choose Oxford.  Although the radiotherapy itself takes just 15 minutes on average, people from this area find the whole thing takes 4-5 hours out of their day when travel time, delays and parking are taken into account.

In partnership with the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust a new radiotherapy satellite centre is being built at the GWH costing some £18m.  Oxford University Hospitals Trust is funding the build and some of the equipment but Brighter Futures is raising £2.9m to go towards the purchase of two linear accelerators.  Initially the centre will deal with less complex cases but eventually will take all cases, except children.  Children will still go to Oxford for treatment.

The preliminary work at the site has been completed and it is hoped the build will begin in October.  The site was a staff car park but that’s been moved to another area.  The Unit will have its own car park for patients coming for treatment.

When the build begins on-site celebrations are planned such as a ground-breaking event and major donors will be offered hard hat tours.  The build time is 56 weeks after which the two linear accelerators can be delivered.  When they are there will be more celebrations and possibly a blessing of the accelerators. 

Copies of Catherine’s presentation, with pictures, are available.  Contact KW for one.

Brighter Futures website