Bringing cancer services
together under one roof

The three story centre has been carefully designed to support patients, staff and the wider community, specific features include:

• Bright and welcoming Atrium area with a dedicated entrance – patients and visitors do not need to enter the busy main RUH hospital building.
• Welcoming reception and spacious waiting areas throughout the centre for each service.
• Inpatient ward with 22 beds, including single rooms and isolation rooms, and an outdoor courtyard space.
• Light filled outpatient area with comfortable chairs and tea and coffee available from volunteers.
• Dedicated pharmacy within outpatients to support cancer patients – including a consulting room and counters for patients to directly access their medications and seek advice – no need to enter the main RUH hospital building.
• Medlock Unit – a large open plan day case and chemotherapy treatment area providing a bright and welcoming space for patients with modern chemotherapy chairs well equipped with power and data points. The unit includes six individual treatment rooms and facilities to support more specialised care such as bone marrow procedures.
• Macmillan Wellbeing Hub – a non-clinical, calming space where patients, families and carers can receive practical and emotional support.
• Dedicated therapy rooms within the Macmillan Wellbeing Hub to support a range of services including wig fitting, complementary therapies and advice on benefits and finance.
• Family accommodation within the Macmillan Wellbeing Hub to support families and carers who need to stay close to loved ones.
• Lymphoedema room to support the specific needs of patients with this condition.
• Radiotherapy facilities equipped to deliver the most up to date treatments. The carefully designed radiotherapy department provides a better experience for patients, with a dedicated entrance, reception and waiting area and a direct route into the treatment area.
• Facilities for clinical trials and space for the research team in the heart of the Dyson Cancer Centre.
• Nuclear Medicine and Medical Physics providing services that include diagnostic services using radioactive tracers.
• Staff Hub including kitchen facilities to provide space for staff to take a break, eat lunch, and spend time with colleagues. The centre also includes meeting rooms for staff and facilities such as showers, lockers, and a drying room.

This new setting will support staff to continue to deliver the highest quality of care, now and in the future.

The new inpatient ward (William Budd Ward) offers a significant improvement on current facilities including:

• Multiple improvements to the physical environment to support infection prevention and control, including the ability to split the ward into two in the event of an infection outbreak.
• Improved privacy and dignity for all patients with side bedrooms, isolation bedrooms and bed bays, with ensuite toilets and showers.
• Built to modern standards, providing more space around beds for medical equipment and easy access, more room for storing equipment and medical materials and more storage space for patients.
• Bright and welcoming rooms, many of which have views to the surrounding countryside, and all patients have easy access to a day room and an outdoor courtyard.

The new Medlock Unit (chemotherapy, anti-cancer treatments and day care) also offers a significant improvement on current facilities including:

• Six individual treatment rooms, some with ensuite facilities.
• Facilities to support more specialised care such as bone marrow procedures.
• A spacious area with carefully located staff bases to ensure a clear line of sight to all patients.
• Bright and airy surroundings and the use of art and design to create a calming environment – often patients will need to spend hours in one place during chemotherapy treatment.

The centre will also improve the quality of care for patients on a psychological level – the calm and therapeutic environment throughout the centre will support patients and loved ones during what can be a challenging time.

The new building will also allow us to support longer term plans for cancer care and treatment.

The building has been designed to bring the outside in using natural textures, tones and colours in a variety of materials that will create a relaxed and welcoming environment without compromising on the high quality, high tech care we provide.

Connecting with nature generates an increase in positive emotions and feelings of calmness and optimism and can help lower anxiety.

The use of natural colours to provide a calming environment includes floors, doors and walls which will be tailored according to area and use, making it easier to find your way around the centre.

Being connected to nature has been shown to support mental and physical health and many of the treatment rooms will have views of outside green spaces and the beautiful surrounding countryside. Art, sculpture and installations will also play an important role, providing a rich representation of nature throughout the centre shaped around a ‘Land. Water. Sky’ theme and influenced by local landscapes.

The centre has been designed to support accessibility needs and meets modern healthcare standards.

Many of the spaces are flexible and digitally agile to enable staff to adapt the environment for different needs, for example making a separate space for a teenage patient.

The inpatient ward will surround a light filled accessible central courtyard which will allow for patients to enjoy outside peace and tranquillity, even if they are unable to leave their bed.

The colour of floors, doors and walls will be tailored according to area and use, making it easier to find your way around the centre.

There will be an ambient room with a one hour immersive film shown on a loop that captures a bluebell wood from dawn to dusk. This space will create an atmosphere of tranquillity and calm, providing a place of refuge and contemplation for the people we care for, their loved ones and staff.

The new lab spaces allow us to bringing multi-disciplinary teams together to design, conduct and analyse cancer trials and other research projects and give suitable patients the most up-to-date drug therapies and access to world class research.

The cancer clinical trials team have around 60 different research studies currently in progress. These range from simple studies involving analysis of blood to large complex trials comparing various different cancer treatments and development of new drugs and therapeutics.

The team work as part of the cancer care team alongside doctors, specialist cancer nurses and other healthcare professionals to ensure that as many RUH patients as possible get the opportunity to take part in research.

They team also collaborate closely with Bath University, other cancer research centres and charities to develop new research that will generate better treatments in the future.