It will be one of four treatment centres being built by Proton Partners International across the UK and will be located within the £2bn Knowledge Quarter Liverpool development. Tony McDonough reports
City planners have given the go-ahead to a lifesaving £35m ultra high-tech proton beam therapy centre for cancer patients in Liverpool’s £2bn Knowledge Quarter (KQ Liverpool).
It will be one of four treatment centres being built by Proton Partners International across the UK.
The oncology centre, which will be known as The Rutherford Cancer Centre North West, will provide an all-encompassing cancer service for patients, offering proton beam therapy.
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It will also offer chemotherapy, traditional radiotherapy and imaging. It is expected that conventional treatments will be available in 2018 and proton beam therapy in 2019.
Mike Moran, chief executive of Proton Partners International, said: “This marks the next step in our mission to make the best cancer technology accessible to patients across the UK and I’m proud that our next centre will be in my home town of Liverpool.
“KQ Liverpool is a really exciting project to be involved with. It’s already proving to be a world-class destination for business, science and innovation, which sits right at the core of our values as a company.
“By building centres across the country we hope to transform the level of cancer treatment available to patients and therefore receiving planning permission is a key milestone for us.
“Not only will our centre bring an innovative industry to Liverpool, but it will also bring skilled job opportunities that will play a key role in boosting the local economy.”
There are currently no operational high-energy proton beam therapy facilities in the UK and the demand for more specialised cancer care is growing.
Proton Partners International is building three other UK cancer centres, in Newport, Northumberland and Reading, and further sites are under consideration.
It is expected The Rutherford Cancer Centres will each be able to treat up to 500 patients a year and treatment will be available to medically-insured private patients, self-paying patients and patients referred by the NHS.
Proton Partners is also building a genomics research centre at the Life Sciences Accelerator building in Liverpool which will be the first part of a health campus set to surround the £335m new Royal Liverpool Hospital.