In the news..
Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre £1.6m makeover
Thursday, 3 March 2011
The Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre has transformed its
reception and waiting rooms after raising £1.6m through a public
appeal. The revamped facilities are an attempt to make the
surroundings more pleasant for patients. Some of the money was
raised by former patients and BBC Points West's Sabet Choudhury has
been to meet one of them, Jason Edgar.
The full story and video can be accessed on the BBC website
Bristol Hospital gets 'revolutionary' cancer scanner
Monday, 28 March 2011
A "revolutionary"
new cancer scanner is being used by scientists at Bristol's
Southmead Hospital. The Circulating Tumour Cell (CTC) machine looks
for cancer cells in blood samples of patients with prostate, breast
and colon cancers. Doctors believe it will improve conditions for
sufferers by giving them more detailed information, including more
accurate medication and treatment. The £110,000 machine is the
first to be based outside of London. "It's fairly revolutionary in
Bristol. These machines are high-tech, they are cutting edge," said
Professor David Gillatt from the Bristol Urological Institute.
"It's a great step forward for Bristol's prostate cancer research.
"Senior research technician Dr Caroline Jarrett is one of those who
will be using the CTC machine. "It's incredibly exciting. I'm
really looking forward to it. "I have to go on an intensive
training course so that I can use it. I'm really excited, I think
it's a brilliant piece of equipment." The Friends of the Bristol
Oncology Centre and the John James Bristol Foundation raised half
of the money needed for the machine, which was then matched by the
Higher Education Funding Council for England. Friends chairman John
Miles, who himself had prostate cancer, said early detection of the
disease was vital. "I discovered it 11 years ago. If you find out
early enough with prostate cancer there's a very good chance of a
cure."Cancer patients at both Southmead Hospital and the Bristol
Haematology and Oncology Centre will benefit from the
equipment.
The full story and video can be accessed on
the BBC website
Best Patient Support
Initiative in Oncology
Jancis Kinsman, Advanced Practice Therapy Radiographer, and the
team at the BHOC, part of University Hospitals Bristol NHS
Foundation Trust, have won ˜Best Patient Support Initiative in
Oncology at the 2010 Excellence in Oncology Awards for ˜One of a
Kind! A guide to radiotherapy.
Jancis and the team collaborated with six NHS hospital trusts,
eight charities and Oscar-winning Aardman Animations to produce an
animated film for young children going through the daunting
experience of radiotherapy.
On winning the award, Jancis said: Its always lovely to be
recognised for what you do but Im especially proud to win an award
for this project.
We wanted to create a short animated film with characters that
young children could identify with that would be the best way to
communicate to them what it is like to have radiotherapy. Its
been really successful and is now used in hospitals across the
country. I hope that by winning this award even more people
will get to know about it and it may find its way to even more
children.
The award is a testament to the work of the many people involved
and Id especially like to thank all of the charities that donated
funds so that it was possible, the children and their families for
taking part, and Aardman for doing such a fantastic job.
At the same awards ceremony, the work of the Bristol Testicular
Cancer Service Team at BHOC was recognised with a commendation for
their specialist cancer unit and charitable initiatives benefiting
testicular cancer patients across the South West of England.
The full video can be watched below.
