THOUSANDS of cancer patients have received life saving radiotherapy on their doorstep thanks to a state-of-the-art oncology centre, preventing them having to travel out of county for care.

Patients from Redditch and Bromsgrove previously had to travel to Cheltenham, Coventry and Wolverhampton for radiotherapy before the opening of the £22.5 million oncology centre in Worcester nearly three years ago.

Adel Makar, a consultant urological surgeon and cancer leader, was able to extol the benefits of the centre when he addressed a meeting of the health overview and scrutiny committee at County Hall in Worcester recently although he said there was still much to do such as providing better psychological support for cancer patients and their families.

The Worcestershire Oncology Centre at Worcestershire Royal Hospital has treated 2,800 patients using radiotherapy since it opened in January 2015.

The centre was developed by Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust in partnership with University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

Mr Makar, lead cancer clinician for the trust, said the centre was now equipped to provide care to around 1,500 radiotherapy patients each year, a 50 per cent increase in patients getting the treatment.

There has also been an increase in access to chemotherapy which is provided at all three Worcestershire hospitals, including Redditch's Alexandra Hospital.

For example, 9,180 patients received chemotherapy at the Rowan Suite at Worcester between October 2015 and October 2016.

Between October 2016 and October 2017 this increased to 9,754 patients, an increase of 574 patients (6.2 per cent).

Over the same period the Garden Suite in the Alexandra Hospital saw an increase of 632 patients (12 per cent) and the Millbrook Suite in Kidderminster saw an increase of 631 patients (10.6 per cent increase).

Across the county there has been a 30 per cent increase in the numbers of chemotherapy patients.

The hospital trust also has an oncologist on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week which has improved patient experience by providing round-the-clock care for those who may experience complications after treatment.

However, some of the trust's cancer targets remain in the red.

85 per cent of patients are supposed to wait no more than 62 days for treatment following an urgent GP referral.

The figure was 76.58 per cent in August but had slumped to as low as 61.78 per cent in April.

Mr Makar said all specialties were working to address this issue and that there was now far better tracking of patients.

However, the report delivered to HOSC said the overall picture was broadly improving with progress still having to be made.