The highly anticipated new Cancer Centre at Guy’s Hospital opened the doors to its first patients today (26 September).

This is the start of a phased opening of the building – some outpatients clinics will be held this week, the first chemotherapy treatment will be given next week, and radiotherapy treatment will start on 7 November.

We have provided £26.7 million in support for the state-of-the-art Centre Centre at Guy’s, which has been designed by patients for patients to bring together most treatments under one roof – previously cancer care was provided in 13 different locations in eight different buildings on the St Thomas’ and Guy’s sites.

Dr Majid Kazmi, Clinical Director of Cancer Services at Guy’s and St Thomas’, says: “It is fantastic to welcome the first patients to our new Cancer Centre. Today is the culmination of more than 10 years of planning and working in partnership with our patients to create a building to transform cancer care.”

Our funding has helped secure state-of-the-art technology for treatment and research in the new building, including six linear accelerators which are the first radiotherapy machines in Europe to provide treatment above ground level. Funding has also been used to provide the Centre with furniture, equipment and IT infrastructure. As part of our support, we have also granted £1.7 million for an ambitious arts programme to embed bespoke work by five world-class artists into the design of the new Centre.

Moving most treatments and research into one single building is expected to radically improve the experience of people living with and working in cancer, and encourage closer collaboration between frontline clinicians and researchers. New ways of working, technology and equipment in the new Centre will also make care more centred around patients.

Helping to create world-class cancer care and research has been one of our strategic priorities over the past five years. Including funding for the new Centre, we have provided over £28.7 million in funding since 2012 for work to improve research, diagnosis and treatment in Lambeth and Southwark. In our role as the charity for anyone who wants to support the work at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, we are also driving a public fundraising appeal to support the new Centre.

Kieron Boyle, our Chief Executive said: “The opening of the landmark Cancer Centre at Guy’s represents a huge leap in the journey to transform cancer treatment, care and research here at Guy’s and St Thomas’. Having cancer is something one in two of us will face at some point in our lifetime. Our support, and that of generous donations, has enabled the Cancer Centre to be equipped with the very latest in technology, funded a varied and inspiring arts programme and, for the first time, brought the majority of cancer treatments under one roof.”

Find out more about how we support cancer services at the Trust and some of our work to date backing innovation in cancer care and research across Lambeth and Southwark.

Photograph by David Tett, courtesy of Futurecity and Pentagram.