It goes without saying that, in the eyes of many at least, the National Health Service is the crowning glory of the United Kingdom. It is the envy of the world when it comes to treatment without having to pay for it when you receive it, with Guildford’s Royal Surrey County Hospital long having been one of the best for cancer sufferers. Now it is set to receive an increase in funding as it becomes one of the leading surgical centres in Europe.
One of the Country’s Best Cancer Care Centres
Royal Surrey County Hospital is an NHS trust that is clinically led. It offered joined-up care by looking to bridge the gap between community services and the hospital itself. Perhaps more importantly, at least in the eyes of some, is the fact that it is a regional cancer care centre, providing numerous world-class services that are based on compassion and friendliness to anyone who needs to use it. As proof of how important the Royal Surrey is to those fighting cancer, it has received both national and international recognition.
It is currently the fourth-largest cancer care centre in the United Kingdom, with the current plans meaning that the hospital itself will become even bigger. At the current moment, as many as 60% of the surgeries carried out at the Royal Surrey County Hospital are cancer-related, with an increasing demand for cancer surgeries in the area leading to the perceived need for an increase in the size of the development. It is tragic that we need more space to treat cancer sufferers, not less, but the Royal Surrey is trying to meet demand.
Expansion Plans
The expansion plans being looked at for the Royal Surrey County Hospital are such that it will become one of the leading surgical centres in Europe, seeing its ability to perform surgery boosted by around 7,000 extra patients every year. It is likely that the expansion will be completed in the latter half of next year, with initial estimates suggesting that it cost in the region of £41.5 million to be completed. It will become a state-of-the-art location for cancer-based surgeries, hopefully saving hundreds of lives as a result.
The new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre will be based across three stories, housing six new operating theatres. This will greatly increase the site’s capacity to carry out surgeries on cancer sufferers, with the centre including numerous other aspects that will make it such an impressive venue. As well as a Post-Anaesthetic Care Unit, or PACU, it will also have a recovery area for those that have had surgery to be able to recover from it before heading home. A new short-stay ward will also be part of the site, which is aimed at relieving pressure on the main hospital.
Transforming the Hospital’s Services
Work on the new centre actually began in 2024, with Louise Stead, the Chief Executive of the NHS Foundation Trust, saying, at the time, “We are very excited to have started work on our new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre which will become one of Europe’s leading surgical centres. This whole project is going to transform our services and ensure we are supporting thousands more people on the road to recovery and improving their experience of care”. The centre will be made up of modules that will be made in Hull before being shipped to Guildford.
There will be 180 modules built 200 miles away before being shipped to Guildford, at which time a 450-tonne crane will hoist them into position and in the region of 100 construction workers will look to position them in order to build the new centre for the hospital. The site itself has already been prepped for the arrival of the modules, seeing 227 piles put into the ground to support the structure and the area next to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit cleared and levelled, with drainage work also carried out.