£4.5 million cancer development opens at Midlands Hospital

The University Hospital Birmingham has today opened the doors to a new groundbreaking £4.5 million state-of-the-art unit to aid the fight against cancer.

Patients visiting the new West End development, based at the QueenElizabethHospital, will benefit from rapid, local access to the latest diagnostic technology and from two additional Radiotherapy linear accelerators.

The development includes a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Centre, which is the result of a four year collaboration between University Hospital Birmingham (UHB) and Alliance Medical and was opened by National Cancer Director, Professor Mike Richards.

A PET/CT scanner provides hi-tech imaging for cancer patients, consisting of a PET scanner and a multi-slice Computed Tomography (CT) scanner in the same machine. The PET scan uses an injection of radioactive tracer, which highlights growing tumours and the additional CT scan then pinpoints the exact location of the tumour. The technique also has the potential to improve the effectiveness of radiotherapy.

The linear accelerators will be used to deliver modern highly-accurate Radiotherapy treatment for patients with cancer. In one of the treatment rooms specialist lighting has been fitted to help the patients relax and artwork has been strategically placed around the building by innovative artist Simon Faithfull, as a part of the Cancer Centre Arts Programme.

Chris Boivin, UHB’s Head of Nuclear Medicine, said: “This development is at the cutting edge of technology. The PET scanner will be able to scan up to 4,000 patients per year, replacing the mobile PET service which has previously been provided at the QueenElizabethHospital.  PET/CT scanners provide state-of-the-art imaging for cancer patients. The PET scan uses an injection of a radioactive tracer which is very good at lighting up growing tumours.

“However with a PET scan alone, it is often difficult to work out exactly where the tumours are. By adding a CT scan at the same time, tumour location can be seen with a greater degree of accuracy, guiding biopsies, surgery and radiotherapy.”

Jonathan Walsh, Managing Director of Alliance Medical, said: “We are thrilled to be working in close partnership with the prestigious UHB to establish a PET/CT service in such an accessible and central location within the UK. We are committed to providing cancer patients across the UK with access to PET and this new centre is another great step forward to achieving this goal.”

ENDS

Notes to the editor:

• University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHB) runs two hospitals, the Queen Elizabeth and Selly Oak, which are located 1.5 miles apart in south Birmingham.
• More than 553,000 patients attend the hospitals for treatment every year – ranging from a simple outpatient appointment to a heart transplant.
• More than 6600 people work for the Trust across some 40 disciplines.
• It is the leading teaching hospital in the West Midlands with strong links to the University of Birmingham and for the last four consecutive years has achieved the maximum three performance stars.
• By 2010, we will have an internationally recognised centre of excellence providing modern and dependable acute adult healthcare and integrated mental heath services. It will be a focus for world class education, training and research.
• Alliance Medical is the leading provider of outsourced radiology imaging services in Europe, working in partnership with national health providers and independent healthcare organisations. In the UK the company employs more than 300 staff, of which over 250 are qualified Radiographers and Technologists, operating MRI, CT and PET scanners across both mobile and fixed sites.