PATIENTS with cancer will have faster and better treatment in Worcestershire hospitals rather than having to travel out of county for care following the appointment of a new team to lead a specialist oncology service.

The new service will see the appointment of two new consultant oncologists and a team of specialist nurses to provide rapid, high quality, expert care for cancer patients, working alongside colleagues in A&E, general medicine and haematology.

NHS leaders say the plan will improve outcomes for patients at Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester who require urgent care as a high quality response can prevent or manage the onset of serious complications, improve a person’s experience of care, reduce the need for emergency admissions, and shorten lengths of hospital stay.

Mr Adel Makar, consultant urologist and lead cancer clinician at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Many cancer patients require urgent support at some point – either as a result of their disease progressing or because of complications with their treatment – while other patients may be diagnosed with cancer following an emergency presentation.

“Being better able to support these patients will have a significant impact on their outcomes in terms of their clinical prognosis, experience of treatment and the safety of their care.

“We are delighted that we have approval to develop this service and work is already under way with the aim of it being fully operational by the end of the year.”

The acute oncology development forms part of Worcester-shire Oncology Project, which is also driving forward the development of the county’s first radiotherapy centre, due to open in 2014.

This means county patients will have care closer to home, no longer having to travel outside of Worcestershire for treatment.

The state-of-the-art radiotherapy facilities will also mean more effective targeting of tumours, less damage to surrounding tissue and less risk of complications.

The move was welcomed by the trust’s chief executive Penny Venables at the last board meeting at Kidderminster Hospital.

She said: “It would be a major development and would be a significant quality improvement for those patients we are currently treating within the trust.”