CANCER patients are set to have treatments a little closer to home as plans for a new chemotherapy unit at Solihull Hospital have been announced.
The plans to transform the former mental health ward, the Bruce Burns Unit, into a new facility specifically designed to meet the needs of chemotherapy patients were announced on Monday (January 15).
The £2.2million unit will initially have 24 patient treatment chairs and this is expected to rise to 31 within three years.
There are also plans for a garden, a quiet room for patients, easier parking and a separate entrance to the main hospital building.
The investment by the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust will also create 51 new jobs.
Among the new staff being recruited there will be extra nurses, a dietician, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, consultants and support staff.
At the moment, all chemotherapy patients treated by the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust (HEFT), which runs Solihull Hospital, Heartlands Hospital in Birmingham and Good Hope Hospital in Sutton Coldfield as well as Birmingham Chest Clinic and Solihull Community Services, are cared for on Ward 19 at Heartlands or at the Sheldon Unit at Good Hope.
Hospital bosses claim over the past four years there has been a greater need for chemotherapy treatment at Heartlands and this move will ease some of the pressure there.
They added that some patients with more complex needs will still be given chemotherapy at Heartlands.
Sharon Rogers, Group Manager for Oncology for the Trust, said: “This new unit will make a big difference to patients who are undergoing chemotherapy and supportive treatments.
“It has been designed specifically with patients in mind and it will be purpose built for this sort of treatment. All in all, it will be a much better experience for people who need chemotherapy.”
