New Clatterbridge scanner open for business

Feb 9 2008 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

CHERIE Blair has opened the new £500,000 scanner at the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology.

The Crosby-born QC and wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived early for the opening of the new state-of-the-art Computerised Tomography scanner at the centre.

Cherie Blair said: “Due to my close links with the area I am all too aware of Clatterbridge’s excellent reputation for cancer care.

“The hospital provides an invaluable service to the people of Merseyside and I’m thrilled to open this new scanner and hear of their plans to build a satellite centre in the heart of Liverpool.”

The new equipment will provide improved accuracy in the diagnosis of cancer and monitor the impact of treatment on tumours.

It is a “64-slice” scanner that enables radiographers to generate hundreds of images that reassemble to give a multi-dimensional view of the body’s interior.

Mrs Blair toured the radiotherapy facilities, and met breast cancer patients who have benefited from a radical new treatment available at the hospital.

The Wirral-based Trust provides specialist radiotherapy and chemotherapy services and delivers more than 112,000 treatments to patients every year.

Visiting medical and nursing teams also deliver specialist cancer services at hospitals across the region, serving a population of 2.3m and covering Merseyside, Cheshire, the Isle of Man and South Lancashire.

Chairman of Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology Alan White said: “We are delighted to have this opportunity to welcome Cherie Blair into our centre.

“These are exciting times for the Clatterbridge Centre for Oncology.”