Work starts next month : An update for Radstock constituents from Jacob Rees Mogg MP

Jacob Rees Mogg MP writes:

Last week, Libby Walters, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Trust, wrote to me with an update on its progress towards building a new Cancer Centre on the Combe Park site.

The Centre received planning permission from B&NES in April 2020 and works are expected to start next month having been delayed by the pandemic. The Dyson Cancer Centre should be open to patients in late 2023, providing a 'nurturing and therapeutic environment where the highest quality of care will be delivered'.

The new Centre will offer: a new and improved home for the William Budd Ward; chemotherapy and radiotherapy; an oncology outpatients area including a satellite pharmacy and section for clinical trials and research; new radiotherapy facilities, consulting rooms; a CT simulation suite and a place for clinical imaging and measurements. The Dyson Centre will also include the Macmillan Wellbeing Hub, a £1.5m purpose built patient support centre, which will offer counselling, a complementary therapy suite and overnight facilities so that families can stay close to patients during treatment.

I am delighted that all funding for the construction phase of the project has been secured. Ms Walters told me that the Trust's Forever Friends Appeal recently reached its fundraising target of £10 million towards the Centre and the rest will be provided by the Department of Health and Social Care's New Hospital Programme.

It is important to remember that all the oncology and haematology inpatient and outpatient services will continue as usual while construction of the Dyson Cancer Centre takes place and the Trust is taking every measure to mitigate against disturbance. More information can be found at: www.ruh.nhs.uk/DysonCancerCentre.