Liverpool CCG approves £9.6m investment in our new cancer centre

Posted 5th January 2015

Press release from NHS Liverpool CCG

NHS Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has approved an investment of £9.6m to help fund a new cancer hospital for Merseyside patients in the heart of Liverpool.Design concept showing how the new hospital on West Derby Street could look.

The CCG’s investment supports The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust’s £118m Transforming Cancer Care Programme and vision to improve cancer care for patients in Merseyside and Cheshire.

The plans include:

  • A new Clatterbridge Cancer Centre on West Derby Street in the heart of Liverpool, located on the same site as the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, the University of Liverpool and Cancer Research UK’s Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit.
  • An expansion of the services provided by The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre to meet increased demands for specialist cancer care.
  • Further investment in the existing cancer centre in Wirral, which would remain a busy and vibrant outpatient site providing the majority of care for local patients. It would be redesigned and updated to ensure patients continue to benefit from high quality facilities.
  • Inpatient beds, the teenage and young adult unit and the most complex care would move to the new Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool where, unlike the current site in Wirral, patients would have on-site access to intensive care and other key specialties.
  • The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre’s radiotherapy unit at Aintree and its chemotherapy and outpatient clinics across Merseyside and Cheshire would also continue.

Dr Nadim Fazlani, Chair of NHS Liverpool CCG, said: “Patients in Cheshire and Merseyside already benefit from superb cancer services. However, there is a clear need to future proof these services to meet an increasing demand for cancer care and to ensure that Liverpool patients continue to enjoy the best specialist cancer care closer to home.

“By locating a new Clatterbridge Cancer Centre alongside the existing facilities available on the Royal Liverpool Hospital site, we move closer to the vision of Merseyside and Cheshire becoming a world-class centre of excellence for cancer services, which can only benefit patients in terms of access to the latest treatments, research and expertise.”

The plans for the new cancer centre also have the backing of local authorities in Cheshire and Merseyside including: Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens, Halton, Warrington, and Cheshire West and Chester.

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is currently developing an outline business case, which it expects will be approved in summer 2015. A full business case will follow a year later, enabling building work to start in 2016 and the hospital to open in 2018. There will also be work to remodel and upgrade the Wirral site, which will be completed in 2019.

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre Chief Executive, Andrew Cannell, said: “We passionately believe this investment will significantly expand and improve cancer care in Merseyside and Cheshire. The funding from the CCG will help us move a step closer to realising this vision.”

For more information about NHS Liverpool CCG, visit www.liverpoolccg.nhs.uk.

More information and the latest news on our Transforming Cancer Care project, including the new cancer hospital, is available at www.transformingcancercaremc.nhs.uk.