New cancer unit to treat private patients

A new £14 million cancer unit run by the Christie Hospital will offer cancer care to private patients from Oldham and the rest of the region.

The world-famous hospital, which has a £17million NHS radiotherapy unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital, has teamed up with HCA International Limited in this latest move.

The new private patient cancer centre, at The Christie’s main site in Withington, will raise money to plough into NHS patient care.

The new centre will open in 2013 and cover all areas of cancer treatment and care including surgery, chemotherapy, haemato-oncology, — including transplants, and radiotherapy. It will be called The Christie Clinic.

The Christie’s income from private patients has grown by more than 14 per cent since 2005 to around £10 million per year — representing around six per cent of it’s annual £173 million budget.

The Christie chief executive Caroline Shaw, said: “This partnership will provide a world-class cancer service for private patients, but importantly it will also enable us to enhance our NHS services.

“Our profit from The Christie Clinic will go into caring for our NHS patients.”

The HCA group’s headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee, and it owns nearly 200 hospitals in America.