@ShaunLintern Have an nhs bank account - everyone given £150. If they turn up to all appts they keep it - if the DNA with no notice they have to put £150 back into nhs bank acct before they can have another
@TheLight_UK your customer service is shocking. I’ve been trying to get a response about a party I’ve booked for 3 days, following your mistake, and still nothing. Please can someone take responsibility for this
@TheLight_UK could someone please respond to me regarding a birthday party booked for next week. I have been trying for 3 days to get hold of someone and no one is responding
@sarajcox talking to the kids about Shakespeare (having just watched gnomeo and Juliet)
Me: he’s a very famous playwright
Kids: as famous as Sara cox?
Me: absolutely
😂😂
@oxford_brookes I have tried contacting you repeatedly by email and no one has acknowledged anything. Please can you advise who the best person to contact is in the psychology dept so I can get a transcript. Many thanks
What is Proton Beam Therapy?
Protons are delivered at high speeds and released precisely to target a cancer. The energy is aimed directly and stops in the tumour so reducing damage to healthy tissue beyond it. This significantly decreases the chances of unwanted side effects many years after treatment when compared to conventional radiotherapy.
European neighbours are aiming for 10% of all radiotherapy patients receiving protons by next year, in the US it’s even higher at 25%. The current number of patients treated in the NHS mean that far less than 1% of radiotherapy is delivered by proton.
Each NHS proton beam facility has the capacity to treat 750 patients a year - but FOI figures show that the Christie is operating at roughly 250 a year, with UCLH treating fewer than 200 patients.
These NHS centres cost a total of £500 million to build, way over budget. To treat just over 1,500 patients in a combined seven years is unacceptable - NHS leadership should be asked why they are deploying such brutal rationing of vital services.
Where are we with the Rutherford centres? A longer post on this national scandal.
Three state-of-the-art facilities in Reading, Newport and Northumberland empty during the worst cancer crisis of my lifetime.
I emailed Steve Barclay and Amanda Pritchard on the 19th of July proposing a meeting to discuss how we can work together to reopen the centres.
With 20,000 cancer patients standing to benefit every year.
Steve Barclay responded on the 4th of September, essentially passing the buck to NHS England.
So far, they have only responded through the media stating there is excess capacity in the NHS for the treatment Rutherford offers.
This is nonsense.
Firstly, the facilities offer a wide range of treatment/diagnostic capabilities. Secondly, there is only excess capacity because the NHS severely restricts access to the proton beam therapy (wrongly in my view).
In true NHS fashion, I am yet to hear directly from Amanda Pritchard or her team. Just anonymous briefings in the paper.
The decision maker on the sites, a fund manager named Equitix, also refuses to act despite money being in place to reopen the centres privately.
I take my responsibility in the network's closure, but I am determined to see these machines treating patients again.
No financial conflict - the only thing I stand to gain is some peace of mind.
Is Britain so broken that we can't come together in order to help 20,000 cancer patients? It looks that way.
This is a national scandal.
At a time when patients are dying because of treatment delays, there is an empty network of state-of-the-art cancer centres.
Three of the best equipped facilities I have ever seen, rotting away.
I am still waiting to hear back from @SteveBarclay.
*Mind-blowing* new NASA video showing CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels...
...as if they were visible to the human eye
h/t @ClimateOfGavin