£400k hospital boost: Donation brings specialist cancer treatment and will reduce waiting times
A new technology which removes the need for cancer patients to have permanent tattoos to guide their radiotherapy treatment is now available in the county.
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Surface Guided Radiotherapy (SGRT), which delivers targeted treatment using specialist equipment, has been installed within the Radiotherapy department of the Lingen Davies Cancer Centre at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
The centre treats up to 12,000 radiotherapy patients each year who travel from across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin, and Mid Wales for treatment.
The new technology delivers many benefits for staff and patients, primarily removing the need for tattoos, which have been used for many years to guide radiotherapy treatment and ensure that healthy areas of the body are protected as far as possible.
Many patients feel distress having the permanent tattoos as a reminder of their treatment and this is in addition to discomfort of patients often needing to be physically moved into the correct position by radiotherapy staff.
The new technology will also reduce waiting times as services will be more efficient and allow for increased capacity.
SGRT is being installed thanks to a substantial donation of £416,666 from The Directors of Telford Plaza Ltd to Lingen Davies Cancer Fund – which supports cancer services at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, and in the wider community.
