New GP Practice cancer service will help patients in Fens

A new cancer treatment service has been launched in Cambridgeshire, meaning patients will no longer have to travel long distances for chemotherapy and other appointments.

An Oncology suite at the St Georges Medical Centre in Littleport has opened, giving patients in the Isle of Ely, the chance to be treated locally.

All treatment will still be organised by Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge, who will refer patients to Littleport.

Click below to watch a report by ITV News Anglia's Emily Knight.

Cancer patients have welcomed the opening of a new Oncology suite at a GP Practice in Littleport, which will mean their treatment can be done locally.

Up until now patients living in the Isle of Ely have had to travel a 50 mile round trip to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge or to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, for their treatment.

They will now be able to have chemotherapy treatment in the new suite as well as attending appointments for things like blood tests.

Staff at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge will refer patients to Littleport for treatment.

57-year old Janet Cross is being treated for breast cancer and now has a five minute walk to receive her treatment and welcomes the new service.

Janet said. "It takes a lot of stress out of the treatment, not only for yourself, but other people, because it also involves your family and your friends, taking time off work to take you."

Janet said. "It takes a lot of stress out of the treatment, not only for yourself, but other people, because it also involves your family and your friends, taking time off work to take you."

A GP surgery in Cambridgeshire has opened a new Oncology suite to treat cancer patients locally.

The new service will mean patients will no longer have to travel a fifty mile round trip to Addenbrooke's for all their treatment.

Some appointments, including chemotherapy will now be able to be given at the St Georges Medical Centre in Littleport.

The scheme will be run by staff at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, who will refer patients within the Isle of Ely area, covering areas such as Haddenham, Chatteris and Burwell in Cambridgeshire.

Elaine Chapman, Lead Chemotherapy nurse at Addenbrooke's said. "As well as chemotherapy, patients who have a cancer diagnosis, they also need other support as well, at the moment we don't do blood transfusions, but that is something we are looking at."

Similar services are up and running in Haverhill, Suffolk and East Barnwell in Cambridgeshire, but this is the first time it's been set up in the Fens.

The surgery has a dedicated Oncology suite and will operate once a week, on Thursdays to begin with. It's hoped they will be able to treat 15-20 chemotherapy patients in that date.