Calls for chemotherapy services to be provided at Stobhill

12.00.00am GMT Fri 26th Mar 2010

Glasgow MSP Robert Brown has joined East Dunbartonshire MP Jo Swinson and others who have backed calls for chemotherapy services to be provided at the new Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow.

The new £100 million Ambulatory Care and Diagnostic Centre (ACAD) at Stobhill was opened in May 2009 but, despite chemotherapy treatment being part of the original plans for the hospital, no such service has yet been established.

Robert Brown acknowledged the exhaustive nature of cancer treatment, adding that it is "unacceptable that patients in East Dunbartonshire and North Glasgow must travel to the Beatson Oncology Centre for chemotherapy."

The calls follow the campaign of a local cancer patient who started receiving chemotherapy at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Care at Gartnavel Hospital.

The patient was reported as saying:

"If I wanted to travel by public transport to the Beatson I would need to take two buses or a bus and train.

"I receive chemotherapy intravenously and my current treatment takes all morning. I feel exhausted by the time I come out.

"To go to Stobhill would make more sense as I go there to get my blood checked and there's a consultant that does a clinic. It would also give me more time for when the kids come in from school."

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