Bath Cancer Unit Support Group

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The charity is currently raising money for three projects:

1. £67,822 to provide for an initial period of one year for an Out of Hours Helpline for the increasing number of outpatients receiving chemotherapy at the Royal United Hospital.
   What does this mean for patients?
   The trust is piloting having an improved helpline service with dedicated administrative support staff who triage the ‘Out of hours’ calls. This enhanced facility (unable to be funded by the NHS) will provide cancer out-patients with a timely response to their call, enabling access to specialist local help and advice at a critical and stressful time for them.
2. £62,000 to purchase two Real-Time Position Management Respiratory Gating Systems for the Royal United Hospital.
   What does this mean for patients?
   RPM consists of a small box containing reflective markers and an infrared tracking camera. The small box is placed on the patient’s chest and the wall– mounted camera records how this box moves as the patient breathes. The patient is coached to control their breathing through the planning of radiotherapy and treatment. Research has shown that patients remain very still when controlling their breathing and this targets the radiotherapy more accurately, reducing the risk of radiation damage to normal tissue and other internal organs. The RPM system will be linked to the radiotherapy treatment machine so that the treatment is only delivered when the patient is holding their breath at the correct level. It is most commonly used for breast cancer and can also benefit lung, lymphoma, liver and pancreatic cancer patients.
3. £240,000 in order to purchase an upgraded Solid– State Gamma Camera.
   What does this mean for patients?
   The NHS have agreed to fund a standard model but, by adding an additional £240,000, a more advanced model can be purchased. The benefits of a more advanced solid– state camera include better energy resolution which means better images for diagnosis. It also significantly improves sensitivity, permitting more timely scans and reduced patient delays.
   21 August 2018