Energy Beams To Zap Cancer Coming To UK

A pioneering treatment which is especially effective for treating childhood cancer is to be available in the UK for the first time.

It is hoped 1,500 patients a year will benefit from proton beam therapy, which is a type of advanced radiotherapy.

Currently, patients have to travel to the US or Switzerland to receive it but Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has announced it will be available in Manchester and London.

Around £250m will be invested in building NHS treatment centres at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust hospital in Manchester and University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Proton beam therapy uses a precision high-energy beam of particles to destroy cancer cells.

The treatment is particularly suitable for complex childhood cancers, increasing success rates and reducing side effects, such as deafness, loss of IQ and secondary cancers.

Proton beam therapy will be fully available in England by 2017. Until then, the NHS will continue to fund patients in need of the treatment to receive it abroad.

By 2014/15, the NHS will be spending £30m per year sending up to 400 patients overseas.

Mr Lansley visited The Christie Hospital in Manchester and said earlier: "Developing a national proton beam therapy service is vital to ensuring our cancer facilities are world class.

"We have always said that it is patient outcomes which matter, and to get the best for patients we must always be looking to push the boundaries.

"In addition to improved success rates proton beam therapy reduces the side effects which patients, particularly children, can suffer as a result of traditional forms of cancer treatment.

"Once this service is in place, The Christie and UCLH will boast unparalleled cancer facilities. It will mean more patients will be able to get this treatment, including those for whom travelling abroad for long periods is not possible."

The Department of Health say the development of the service will be closely monitored and should further capacity be needed in the future, the preferred third site is University Hospitals Birmingham.

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Obesity is a key driver behind the increase in diagnoses, at least doubling the risk of the disease, experts said.

Incidence of womb cancer has risen 43% since the mid 1990s, from 13.7 to 19.6 per 100,000 women in the UK.