PM visits our £17m new cancer centre

GORDON BROWN arrives at the new centre and is greeted by professor Peter Williams, project director, left and Pat Lawrence, head of radiotherapy

GORDON Brown visited Oldham’s pioneering Christie Cancer Centre today.

The Prime Minister is the first VIP to tour the £17 million radiotherapy centre, two days after it opened at the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Smiling broadly, Mr Brown met staff and patients at the centre which was backed by £100,000 raised in record time by Chronicle readers.

The Prime Minister saw the two treatment rooms where the latest £1.3 million linear accelerators deliver the cancer-beating radiotherapy treatment.

The centre has started treating breast and prostate cancers and will shortly expand to treat other types.

It is the first in a network of centre to treat cancer patients closer to their homes, and will treat 70 patients each day.

First patient was Jack Horrocks (73) from Rochdale, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in October and began four weeks of treatment on Tuesday.

A second Christie radiotherapy centre is also being built at Salford Royal Hospital and will open next year.