Special treatment for cancer centre

Area:

Wales

Programme:

Palliative Care Wales

Release date:

4 5 2007

On Friday, May 4, a representative from the Big Lottery Fund and the Chairman of Velindre NHS Trust in Cardiff will cut the first ‘sod’ to mark the beginning of construction work on a £1.8 million project to upgrade facilities at Velindre Cancer Centre’s Active Support Unit (ASU).

Based in Whitchurch, Velindre Cancer Centre (VCC) was awarded £480,000 under the Big Lottery Fund’s Palliative Care programme, which is spending £4.5 million on improving palliative care facilities that provide support and relief for terminally ill patients and their families, across Wales.

The cancer centre opened in Whitchurch in 1956 and provides specialist cancer services to 1.5 million people living in South East Wales. It’s one of the 10 largest cancer centres in the UK and its activity has increased significantly over the years. The centre employs 600 staff and sees over 5,500 new cancer referrals and 50,000 outpatient appointments a year.

The ASU focuses on improving quality of life and to facilitate discharge from hospital of patients who typically have been admitted because their disease is no longer responsive to curative treatment. However, facilities at the unit are in desperate need of upgrading. The project will lead to improvements in the setting of palliative care services for patients and their families through refurbishing the main ward area, ensuring health and safety requirements are met and by providing a family area for overnight usage.

Changes in layout will also improve the working environment for staff and volunteers, by providing suitable areas for multi-disciplinary meetings and informal discussions. The scheme will also help improve access for disabled patients and visitors by providing purpose-built disabled bathroom facilities in closer proximity to patient beds.

Big Lottery Fund Wales Chair, Huw Vaughan Thomas, said: “Good palliative care practice and services already exist in Wales but it is recognised that improvements made to the surrounding environment increase efficiency and effectiveness of the services, which in turn have a positive impact on patients and carers. Our Lottery funding will now be used to upgrade and improve the ASU unit and will provide very special facilities for members of the community at a very difficult and sensitive period in their lives.”

In thanking the Big Lottery Fund for helping them to transform their dream of upgrading the facilities into reality, Velindre NHS Trust Chairman, Professor Tony Hazell, said: “The ASU is a crucial building development at Velindre for those patients whose cancer is proving difficult to manage.  The patients receive the expertise of the care from their oncologist whilst also being cared for by the specialist palliative care team, who can manage difficult symptoms and supporting patients and families through the difficult and anxious times they face. The new unit will ensure that patients and their families have privacy, within an environment that enhances dignity in care and encourages patients and relatives to be able to voice their concerns and their needs in the context of personalised care. The design of the unit has been carefully thought through and planned after consulting with patients and families and staff.  The plans meet requests that came for a balance between shared wards where patients have company, single rooms for those who prefer to be in a more private setting and the facilities that families need, including children as relatives.  And all within a very high quality clinical environment.”

The ‘first sod cutting ceremony’, which begins at 12:30 on May 4th, will be performed by Carys Jones from the Big Lottery Fund and Velindre NHS Trust Chairman, Professor Tony Hazell.

For further information about the Big Lottery Fund and how your group can apply for funding, log onto the Big Lottery Fund website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk. To find out more about interview, photo and filming opportunities, see information below and contact Oswyn Hughes at the Big Lottery Fund press office by e- mail or on the numbers below.

Further information

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 02920 678 207
Out of hours contact: 07760171431
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors:

• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.
• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004.
• On 1 December 2006 the Big Lottery Fund was officially established by Parliament and at the same time assumed the residual responsibilities of the dissolved National Lottery Charities Board (Community Fund) the New Opportunities Fund, and the Millennium Commission. The Fund is building on the experience and best practice of the merged bodies to simplify funding in those areas where they overlap and to ensure Lottery funding provides the best possible value for money.

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