Dame Judi Dench opened a new radiotherapy centre in Brighton this morning (Thursday 23 June).
The actress formally opened the Park Radiotherapy Centre, in Preston Road, Brighton, where she met the NHS team behind the £8.9 million project.
The 81-year-old actress also met patients and supporters and was given a tour, seeing where specialist staff will treat cancer patients from across Brighton and Hove and beyond.
She posed for a picture with Brighton’s best-known breast cancer patient Sara Cutting, 48, who was won recognition and admiration for her fundraising selfies on behalf of Macmillan Cancer Support.
Each day she wears “different daily headgear” – and today she praised those who helped her, including Macmillan nurse Lisa, and marvelled at the two new “tomotherapy” scanners.
Dame Judi was told how the machines which cost about £2 million each should help clinicians give patients better treatment and better results.
Tomotherapy – a type of radiotherapy – uses advances in scanning technology to provide a three-dimensional image of the treatment area.
This enables the radiation beams to be more accurately targeted to the size, shape and location of the tumour on that specific day.
During treatment, staff can adjust the intensity and direction of the radiation beams in real time and the revolving beam treats tumours one layer at a time.
Side effects are often minimised because less radiation reaches healthy tissues and organs.
Dame Judi, the daughter of a doctor and a former patron of Ovingdean Hall School for deaf children, said: “I am delighted to be able to officially open this wonderful new facility and to see some of the cutting-edge equipment that will be used to benefit patients living with cancer.
“The work the staff do here is wonderful and it is a pleasure to be able to speak to patients and hear how important the treatment being provided at this new centre is to their lives.”
Fiona McKinna, consultant oncologist and clinical lead for cancer services at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “This is a vital service for some of our sickest patients and our new machines are at the cutting edge of cancer care.
“People who need radiotherapy often have to come in daily for a number of weeks and the Park Centre is a wonderful environment for patients and for staff.”
Referring to Preston Park, opposite the new centre, Dame Judi said: “This is a marvellous facility for local people – and opposite a beautiful park which my dog has already sampled!”
Dr McKinna said: “In a week when national and international news has been both shocking and depressing and on a day when we are all making the most important vote for decades, the opening of a radiotherapy facility may seem very parochial and small.
