CANCER patients in Stroud will be able to access care closer to home now that a Mobile Chemotherapy Unit will be visiting the town’s general hospital every week.
Commissioned by NHS Gloucestershire, supported by GPs and run by the oncology team from Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the unit will begin treating chemotherapy patients at the Mobile Chemotherapy Unit every Thursday.
Until now, patients have had to travel to the Oncology Centre at Cheltenham General Hospital.
The unit has been established with the help of Tetbury-based charity Hope for Tomorrow and is the first of its kind in the world.
As the SNJ reported last month, friends and relatives of Andrew Best, from Eastington, who died of cancer aged just 24 last year, raised £10,000 towards the new unit.
They presented a cheque to Hope for Tomorrow at the beginning of August.
The unit will be able to treat five people on board at any one time and can cater for up to 20 patients a day.
Dr Sean Elyan, medical director at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our vision to bring mobile chemotherapy unit treatment closer to the homes of cancer patients is a reality for patients across Gloucestershire.
"This reduces the burden on patients and their families, while maintaining the highest standard of care."
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