About Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology
Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest NHS specialist cancer treatment facilities in the UK – employing 860 staff and treating more than 26,000 patients a year. Based in Wirral, we serve a population of 2.
3 million across Merseyside, Cheshire, North Wales, the Isle of Man and parts of Lancashire. We provide an outstanding level of care; cutting-edge cancer treatments, a comprehensive network of off-site clinics and multi-disciplinary teams throughout the region, and a supportive environment committed to providing cancer patients and their families with advice and support.
We deliver treatments to our patients through radiotherapy and chemotherapy services. We also have a sophisticated diagnostic imaging department and are currently the only provider of proton therapy in the UK. With the support of the Teenage Cancer Trust we host the region’s Teenage and Young Adult Unit.
The Trust is located on the Clatterbridge Health Park which it shares with a number of other health care providers, although a significant proportion of the Trust’s activities take place in other locations in the network it serves.
Radiotherapy
As one of the largest radiotherapy centres in the UK, during 2010/11 we delivered in excess of 100,000 outpatient radiotherapy treatments. We employ 124 therapy radiographers and operate ten linear accelerator machines. Three of these are located in our new radiotherapy satellite facility in Liverpool which opened in February 2011 (see below).
The busy radiotherapy department also conducts the intricate pre-treatment planning stages including scanning, simulation and (when required) the manufacturing of individual patient moulds/casts. A pioneering team of physicists work closely alongside the radiotherapy department, delivering and developing innovative treatment options.
Our waiting times for radiotherapy treatments are amongst the lowest in the country – consistently below 20 days including the treatment planning times.
Our partnership with The University of Liverpool ensures an active vocational and educational student program in the radiotherapy department with an annual rotation of approx 44 students every year.
On 14th February 2011 we started to treat outpatients at our first radiotherapy satellite centre in Fazakerely, Liverpool. The £17m purpose built centre helps bring our expertise and treatment ‘closer to patients’ and houses three linear accelerators (one of which, the Novalis Tx, is the first of its type in the UK and is used for the delivery of stereotactic radiotherapy). Partnership working with the neighbouring specialist neurological Trust now offers Northwest cancer patients treatment options previously unavailable in the region.
Proton Therapy
Proton Therapy is delivered at The Douglas Cyclotron which is a separate clinical facility within Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology and the only clinical proton therapy facility in the United Kingdom. The Cyclotron was originally sponsored by the Medical Research Council for neutron therapy trials. In 1989, funding from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Cancer Research Campaign and local charities led to the introduction of treatment for tumours in the eye.
Since 1992, the facility has been operating as a part of the Trust. The Cyclotron service is specifically concerned with treating cancers within the eye. The treatment works by sterilising the tumour cells so that they can no longer reproduce. The results vary depending on the size and position of the lesion, but for small lesions the success rate is extremely high. This is a facility with an international reputation and patients are referred from all over the United Kingdom and Ireland, with a smaller number from mainland Europe and other continents.
Chemotherapy
We annually deliver 33,000 outpatient chemotherapy treatments and 2,000 inpatient chemotherapy episodes of care. We have one dedicated outpatient chemotherapy unit and a chemotherapy inpatient ward. In addition to the chemotherapy services available at the Wirral based site, the Centre also delivers chemotherapy treatments at weekly clinics in seven locations across the region. These nurse-led clinics are held in district hospitals and again help bring our expertise and treatments ‘closer to patients’. Last year our chemotherapy nursing team delivered just under 33,000 outpatient chemotherapy treatments. Of these 63% were delivered at off-site clinics - making this one of the most comprehensive network of chemotherapy clinics anywhere in the UK.
Our chemotherapy is produced in-house in the oncology pharmacy department which includes a purpose built licensed aseptic unit. In 2010/11 the pharmacy department produced in excess of 78,000 items of chemotherapy.
Inpatient wards
The Centre has three inpatient wards and a Teenage and Young Adult unit. We are two thirds of the way through our £4.8m capital investment programme to upgrade all inpatient facilities at the Trust. The third and final ward is due for completion by summer 2012. Upgrades to inpatient facilities have included increased single room accommodation, en-suite facilities for each three bedded ward bay, individual access to free bedside digital TV and radio, improved storage and catering facilities and state-of-the-art infection control equipment.
A recent unannounced CQC visit to test compliance with standards of dignity and nutrition complemented the Trust on its standard of care.
With generous help from charity partners we have recently opened a well-appointed ‘relative’s room’ facility to accommodate family members who require overnight accommodation. The facility has two separate ‘living rooms’ with large sofa beds and TV, and there are shared kitchen and bathroom amenities.
Diagnostic Imaging
We are one of only two sites to host the region’s PET:CT scanner (mobile unit) provided under the national contract with Alliance Medical. The Diagnostic Imaging department has a range of modern, specialised imaging equipment that create pictures of the structures and activities inside a patient’s body. These include a new 64 slice CT scanner, a 1.5 tesla MRI scanner, a Nuclear Medicine Gamma Camera, as well as general x-ray and ultrasound scanning.
The department provides an essential service to the Trust, imaging patients at various stages of their treatment and follow-up and also provides non-oncology work on behalf of other Trusts and local GP direct access scans.