New mobile unit for cancer patients
In January, national cancer charity Hope for Tomorrow provided Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust with the unit which will allow cancer patients to receive their chemotherapy treatment closer to their homes.
It will be based at West Berkshire Community Hospital in Thatcham and will save patients the journey to Reading, as well as reduce waiting times and parking hassle.
One patient who is already using the unit, Belinda Piper from Chaddleworth, said that beforehand she would have to travel the 45 minutes each way to and from the Royal Berkshire Hospital every three weeks.
She said: “The unit is fab - it's ideal for me.
"It's a lot more personal and because there are four seats and you have two nurses.
“It’s less stressful."
Events and community fundraiser at Hope for Tomorrow, Rosa Woodley, said: "This unit allows patients to have their treatment closer to home, not have the waiting times and not have the parking costs and the hassle.
“It's also taking the patients out of the hospital. The patients have said it's a nice relaxing environment.
“This hospital was chosen because of the large and rural catchment area."
Another patient Jennifer Hyde from Hungerford said: “I am a long-term cancer patient and for the past five years I have been having chemotherapy every three weeks.
"Each time it means a 60-mile round trip to the Royal Berkshire Hospital with the problems of parking when I get there, plus the expense of the trip. It also means that every three weeks I have to take a half day off from work.
"Being able to get my treatment at Thatcham will mean much less of an impact on my life.”
The unit cost Hope for Tomorrow £260,000 to build and maintain for a three year period and is their sixth unit to be put into operation.
The charity builds, owns and maintains the Mobile Chemotherapy Units and provides them to the NHS to operate with their highly trained staff.
The units travel throughout their counties of operation to a number of set locations and have the capacity to treat between 18 to 20 patients a day.
