Hope for Tomorrow announces partnership with The Royal Marsden

We are excited to announce that we have partnered with The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, the largest cancer centre in Europe, to provide parts of Surrey and South London with a Mobile Chemotherapy Unit (MCU).

The new state-of-the-art, second generation MCU will be delivered to The Royal Marsden shortly, following which there will be a period of familiarisation for staff before the official launch of the service in July.

The treatment locations will be carefully chosen by The Royal Marsden, based on where they can treat the most patients at any given point, hence the locations being subject to change.

To mark their 150^th Anniversary in 2018, The Mark Benevolent Fund will fund a number of new MCUs, which the charity will launch across the country, with The Royal Marsden MCU being the sixth of these, together with MCUs in Lincolnshire, North Wiltshire, Cornwall, West Suffolk and East Essex. The Mark Benevolent Fund will fund the capital costs for this MCU.

For more information on The Mark Benevolent Fund,
please visit: www.markbenevolence.org.uk

As with our other Mobile Chemotherapy Units, The Royal Marsden MCU is owned and maintained by Hope for Tomorrow and will be provided, along with a Nurses Support Vehicle (NSV) which allows the nursing team to travel to and from the daily locations of the MCU.

The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity is funding two drivers for this MCU over the next three years. For more information on The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, please visit www.royalmarsden.org

Christine Mills, MBE and founder of Hope for Tomorrow, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be in partnership with The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and look forward to working with the medical team over the coming months to prepare for the launch in the summer. Our MCU will provide such a vital service for people in the area, bringing cancer care closer to their homes.”

Liz Bishop, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive at The Royal Marsden said: “Staffed by Royal Marsden nurses and designed to look and feel like the hospital inside, the MCU will deliver a full Royal Marsden experience closer to patients’ homes, reducing the need to spend time and money travelling to hospital and improving the patient experience. The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust are pleased to partner with Hope for Tomorrow and to receive the support of The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity; we are all working together to introduce this new model of care to benefit our patients across Surrey and South London.”