11 September 2013
Construction of first teenage cancer unit in the south west is well under way
Former young cancer patients along with Teenage Cancer Trust
ambassadors and world snooker players Judd Trump and Jack Lisowksi,
were invited to the construction site at Bristol Haematology and
Oncology Centre today, to see how the first specialist cancer unit
for young patients from the South West is progressing.
In May, Teenage Cancer Trust unveiled designs for a £2.5million
state-of-the-art unit. The new unit means for the first time young
people aged 16 to 24 from Bristol, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset,
Wiltshire and Gloucestershire, will be treated with others their
own age in an environment suited to their needs. Every day in the
UK, seven young people are told they have cancer and over 200 are
diagnosed across the South West every year.
The Teenage Cancer Trust funded Bristol unit is being built over
two floors with one floor dedicated to inpatients featuring five
en-suite rooms, a social area full of gaming and entertainment
equipment, quiet room, TV room, kitchen and dining space. The other
floor will be for day patients, featuring three treatment pods, two
consulting rooms, a procedure room, social space, waiting area with
cafe and staff office.
Guests were given an exclusive site tour where builders have
completed the external extension to the BHOC and are now creating
internal partitions and doing first fix electrics and mechanics.
Construction is on schedule to finish in early 2014. The charity
also announced that the Bristol unit fundraising appeal has raised
a further £250,000 and £750,000 now needs to be raised. Teenage
Cancer Trust is asking local communities across the South West to
take part in its '£1,000 Challenge'. The charity is calling
on 750 individuals, groups, schools and communities to rise to
the challenge and raise £1,000 each to reach the £750,000
fundraising goal.
Laura Scowen, Teenage Cancer Trust fundraiser, said: "Today is
an exciting moment for us. We have spent a long time fundraising
for this unit and to see it coming to life is a testament to
everyone's hard work. We have already raised £1.75 million but
there is still a long way to go so that's why we are appealing to
the public to really get behind our £1,000 Challenge."
World snooker players Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski also visited
the site for the first time. Teenage Cancer Trust is a charity
close to their hearts as Cheltenham born Jack, was diagnosed with
Hodgkin's lymphoma at 16. Bristol born Judd said: "Jack has told me
how hard it was dealing with cancer as a teenager. Knowing that he
didn't benefit from being treated with other people the same age
and in a place that was full of stuff you like as a teenager must
have made it even worse. That's why it's so important this unit is
finished and the public get behind the appeal."
Dr Alison Cameron, Macmillan Teenage and Young Adults Lead
Clinician at the BHOC, said: "Within the South West we have an
effective, integrated multidisciplinary Teenage and Young Adults
team who help support TYA patients who have cancer. These
facilities will complement this team, enhancing the care they
provide and making a major difference to the patient's cancer
journey. In short we will now be able to provide patients with a
world class service."
The unit build will mark the final phase in a multi-million
pound investment the charity is making in young people's cancer
services across the South West. For the first time in Teenage
Cancer Trust's history, the charity lent its design expertise to
enhance a brand new hospital ward for 11 to 16 year olds with a
variety of complex health issues which included cancer. The
home-from-home themed ward opened in Bristol Royal Hospital for
Children in December 2012 and is unlike any other ward in the
hospital.
Teenage Cancer Trust also funds a teenage and young
adult lead nurse who is responsible for developing and providing
excellent clinical care, as well as complementing existing services
for young people and their families and a youth support
coordinator.
The youth support coordinator helps young people
share their experiences and fears with each other, encourages them
to socialise by arranging activities and outings and runs a peer
support group. The charity has also adopted teenage and young adult
specialist nurses who operate from 6 designated network care
hospitals across the South West. By doing so this provides an
excellent model of care for 15-24 year olds no matter where they
live in the region.
Once opened, the Teenage Cancer Trust funded Bristol unit will
complement the existing 27 units the charity has already built in
NHS hospitals across the UK since 1990. Teenage Cancer Trust plan
to build a further five so that all young people needing hospital
treatment for cancer have access to the dedicated, specialist
support they provide.
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