Royal seal of approval for Liverpool's first cancer hospital

The Prince of Wales has suprised staff in Liverpool as they prepare to open a major new cancer hospital in the city

Around 300 staff at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre had stopped for a short tea break when screens around the new hospital lit up for their special Royal message. The Prince of Wales congratulating them on their efforts to get the new hospital ready in time for its first inpatients, despite the challenges posed by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The Prince of Wales also highlighted the enormous benefits that the new cancer centre will bring to the 2.4m people of Cheshire and Merseyside, including those most disadvantaged and in greatest need of pioneering new treatments such as immunotherapy and the most advanced forms of radiotherapy.

The new Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Liverpool is part of a £162m investment in expanding and transforming cancer services in a region where people are more likely to develop and die from the disease than almost anywhere else in England. It welcomed its first inpatients on Saturday 27 and will begin daycase and outpatient treatments including chemotherapy and radiotherapy on Monday 29th June.

Sitting at the heart of Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter – adjacent to the University of Liverpool and Royal Liverpool University Hospital – the new cancer centre will enable better, safer care for the most complex and seriously unwell patients, with on-site access to acute medical and surgical specialties. It also significantly enhances the ability for pioneering cancer research and clinical trials.

The hospital will provide a wide range of highly-specialist cancer care including pioneering chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiotherapy, diagnostics, bone marrow transplant, and wraparound services and support.