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Norfolk patients to get cancer care closer to home with new Mobile Cancer Care Unit
An innovative partnership between Cancer charity Hope for Tomorrow and the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital will enable chemotherapy and other cancer drug therapies to be delivered in a mobile cancer care unit.
The new state-of-the-art unit will be launched in the summer of 2020 thanks to support from ‘Hope for Tomorrow' and a generous donation from the Mark Benevolent Fund.
It will treat up to 16 patients a day and is designed to travel to different locations around Norfolk, delivering cancer care in up to five different venues a week. Locations are being considered in the run up to the launch and include Dereham, Fakenham, Beccles and Attleborough. North Norfolk is covered by separate developments at Cromer and District Hospital.
Leanda Bickley, Hope for Tomorrow Operations Manager, says: "We are very excited to be partnering with NNUH. This will be our 11th operational unit helping to bring cancer care closer to patients in such a rural area. We already have a great working relationship with the trust and look forward to developing this further to make the mobile unit a success."
The staffing costs will be covered by the Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals Charity for the first three years of operation to get the service underway before handing over to the hospital.
Jo Richardson, Lead Cancer Nurse for NNUH, says: "This is a fantastic opportunity for our patients to receive treatment closer to their home. Norfolk is a large rural county with limited transport links; by offering treatment closer to home we can reduce additional anxiety and costs of traveling into Norwich."
The Mobile Cancer Care Unit (MCCU) is owned and maintained by Hope for Tomorrow and will be provided along with a Nurses' Support Vehicle (NSV) which allows the nursing team to travel to and from the daily locations of the MCCU. The locations will be decided based on patient numbers and accessibility.
Hope for Tomorrow are an award winning charity whose MCCUs across the country have been recognised for the care closer to home they have been delivering since 2007 when they launched the world's first MCCU. In 2016 the charity won a prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise, in the Innovation category, a rare accolade for a charity.
If you would like more information or to get involved with Hope for Tomorrow, please contact them directly on 01666 505055 or via email info@hopefortomorrow.org.uk or visit www.hopefortomorrow.org.uk
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Notes to editors
About Hope for Tomorrow
Hope for Tomorrow is a dedicated charity, bringing cancer care closer to patients' via our Mobile Cancer Care Units (MCCUs).
Fighting cancer is one of the hardest things any one will ever have to do, even without the additional stress of spending hours travelling long distances to hospitals to receive treatment. This is why Hope for Tomorrow brings cancer care closer to patient's, to ease the strains of travel and to give them more time with their loved ones.
We work in a unique partnership with the NHS helping to ease capacity challenges at hospital trusts. We have 10 MCCUs operational in Gloucestershire, Somerset, South Wiltshire, East Kent, Lincolnshire, Cornwall, West Suffolk, East Essex, London/ Surrey and West Yorkshire, with two reserve MCCUs in place to ensure continuity of service during the maintenance schedule. We also provide a Nurses Support Vehicle with each MCCU, which allows the nursing team to travel to and from the daily treatment locations.
The charity won a Queen's Award for Enterprise - Innovation, in 2016. The Award is the UK's highest accolade for business success, and was made in recognition of our achievements since the Founder, Christine Mills MBE, set up Hope for Tomorrow in 2003.
EACH MOBILE CANCER CARE UNIT COSTS THE CHARITY £198 PER DAY TO KEEP ON THE ROAD.
For further information on Hope for Tomorrow, please contact:
01666 505055
For further enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Claire Cosgrove, Head of Fundraising and Communications
clairecosgrove@hopefortomorrow.org.uk
About the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital
The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is a 1,100 bed teaching hospital with state-of-the-art facilities for modern patient care.
The hospital is one of the biggest cancer centres in the country. It receives more than 2,200 referrals a month for suspected cancers diagnoses more than 470 new cancers a month.
The Trust has 8,000 staff and volunteers who care for and support patients who are referred to us by around 100 local GP practices and from other acute hospitals and from GPs around the country.
We have world class facilities, highly skilled staff and low infection rates. Our patients rate us highly on quality of care and having friendly, approachable staff.
for further enquiries with Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital please contact:
Adam Gretton
adam.gretton@nnuh.nhs.uk