A multi-million-pound bid has been submitted to the UK government in plans to transform Mount Vernon Cancer Centre (MVCC) in Northwood.
The £260million bid is to cover the costs of building a new MVCC site in Watford and a satellite radiotherapy unit in either Luton or Stevenage.
The proposal has been developed with patients, local people, cancer centre staff, other health professionals and voluntary groups following the conclusion of an Independent Clinical Review in 2019 which said that services could not stay as they are.
Submitted to the Department of Health and Social Care as part of the government’s New Hospital Programme, the MVCC project could be one of eight funded as part of the programme.
Professor Peter Hoskins, a consultant in Clinical Oncology at MVCC since 1992, said: “Whilst our staff deliver the best care they can to our patients, the new cancer centre will result in a major improvement for cancer patients in the area.
“Doing nothing or doing the minimum on the current site and in the current facilities has been ruled by out clinicians and managers as the service would not be able to survive without the onsite medical support it needs to deliver modern specialist cancer services, and in buildings which are more than a century old and plagued with problems.”
A representative of the Mount Vernon Patient Reference Group said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to develop something that truly meets the needs of patients and improves their experiences – reducing traveling times, improving choice and treatment options and giving patients an opportunity to help design the new services. It’s the only option that will meet patients’ needs in the future.”
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