Celebrating 25 years of St Luke’s cancer centre at Royal Surrey | News

This week marks 25 years since Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh officially opened St Luke’s Cancer Centre at Royal Surrey County Hospital, on 21 February 1997.

Before becoming part of Royal Surrey, St Luke’s was a standalone general hospital with its origins stemming back to an 1838 workhouse. At the official February 1997 opening, the chairman of the hospital board at the time, Colston Herbert, said that more than 2,500 people would be seen each year in the new cancer centre, which would serve a population of about 1.5 million people stretching from the outskirts of London to the south coast [reported in the Surrey Advertiser].

Today, Royal Surrey is a regional referral cancer treatment centre, serving a population of 3million across the South East of England and accepting referrals across England for specialist radiotherapy. In 2021, Royal Surrey supported more than 8,500 cancer patients.

Royal Surrey delivers more than 30,000 chemotherapy sessions each year and its treatment protocols are followed by many of the leading cancer centres across the UK. It has specialist capabilities to diagnose, treat and care for more types of cancer than most general hospitals. 

Chief Executive Louise Stead said:

“I’m incredibly proud of the service we provide our cancer patients and am grateful to our staff who put their patients at the heart of everything they do and strive to provide the best patient care every day.

“Our patients have some of the best outcomes in the country because of their dedication and care, and because we have invested in our cancer teams, technology and stayed at the forefront of research innovations.”

St Luke’s has a long history of innovation, starting at the original St Luke’s hospital with the instalment of the UK’s first Betatron electron therapy unit, the most up-to-date cancer treatment technology at the time.

Over the 25 years that St Luke’s has been at Royal Surrey, the hospital has continued to innovate. It has more surgical robots in a single site than any other NHS Trust. These robots use tiny instruments allowing for precise and minimally invasive cancer operations.

Royal Surrey is one of only two hospitals in the country to have a Varian Ethos© adaptive radiotherapy machine. This machine uses artificial intelligence to provide accurate information about the exact position of a patient’s organs before each radiotherapy session, reducing side effects for the patient. Last year it was the first hospital in the county use this machine to operate on a cervical cancer patient.

The hospital also has a buoyant research portfolio with 50 studies striving to improve cancer care open right now, giving patients access to a wider range of treatment options and helping to advance treatment.

Sharadah Essapen is a Consultant Oncologist and Chief of Service for Oncology. She joined the Trust in 1999.

 “Cancer care is very different from 25 years ago. Back then, you were very much a general oncologist, whereas now oncologists specialise in one or two tumour sites, they can’t be generalists because that’s just a vast field.

“Treatment has become more advanced and consequently complex to deliver. Our approach to cancer care has changed too. We now have a more holistic focus so we don’t just treat patients for cancer, we care for the psychological effect of the condition on our patients and their families.

“Our cancer services have expanded and evolved to meet the needs of these changes. For example, now we have a nuclear medicine and medical physics team who provide highly specialised diagnostics and treatment regimens, and specialist therapy teams such as dietitians, physiotherapists and counselling.

“Each patient is now assigned a clinical nurse specialist, providing vital care throughout the whole patient pathway from diagnosis to post-treatment care. They are the patient’s main point of contact and are experts in their particular type of cancer. They provide advice and support – both practical and emotional – to patients, their friends and their families.”
 

Emma McCormick is the first patient in the UK to be treated for cervical cancer using the Ethos machine she said:

“I was diagnosed with cancer of the cervix in April 2021 and referred to St Luke’s for treatment. It was a shock to get the diagnosis and things were made more difficult because of lockdown and not being able to see people or go out, but I felt confident and reassured that I was in the best possible hands.

“The radiographers were incredibly kind and thoughtful. When I had my first treatment, I was wearing Star Wars socks and they played the Star Wars theme tune on the machine for me. It became a running joke at each session that I would wear Disney™ socks and the team would play the appropriate theme tune.”

Emma has now completed her treatment at St Luke’s and is currently living free of cancer.

1838 a workhouse was built on the outskirts of Guildford to house 300 people, including 10 infirmary beds allocated for the sick.
1896 A new 170-bed Guildford Infirmary opened, the forerunner of St Luke’s Hospital
1916-1919 The infirmary was taken over by the military and ‘The Guildford War Hospital’ treated 7,680 mainly British, Australian and Canadian soldiers
1945 The hospital became St Luke’s Hospital, renamed after Addison Road church of St Luke’s (Luke being the Patron Saint of Physicians).
1948 the hospital was incorporated into the National Health Service.
1952 Through a clinical union with Royal Surrey County Hospital St Luke’s expanded and specialised
1956 Nurse’s preliminary training school was built on the site, training radiographers, operating department practitioners and midwives.
1967 Instalment of the UK’s first Betatron electron therapy, the most up-to-date cancer treatment technology at the time. This was funded by a large charity appeal involving the actress Florence Desmond, who now has a ward named after her at Royal Surrey.
1982 The first laser laparoscopy – a minimally invasive surgery – in the United Kingdom was performed at St Luke’s Hospital.
1991 St Luke’s Hospital and the Royal Surrey became a joint self-governing trust within the NHS, in response to government plans laid out in the early 1980s. Departments and services began to move to the Royal Surrey site.
1996 Radiotherapy was the last department to leave the Warren Road Site.
1997 On Friday 21 February Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh officially open Royal Surrey’s St Luke’s Cancer Centre

St Luke’s at Royal Surrey

1998 The Fountain Centre launched, providing counselling and complementary therapies for Royal Surrey cancer patients
2010 Royal Surrey Surgery department buys its first robot, making keyhole surgery an option for patients with gynaecological and prostate cancers
2012 Stereotactic body irradiation treatment commenced, delivering extremely precise, very intense doses of radiation to cancer cells while minimising damage to healthy tissue.
2014 Radiotherapy satellite centre opened at East Surrey Hospital
2019 Work began to establish the Enhanced Supportive Care service to help people who are having cancer treatment to stay well and cope with symptoms that may be caused by either the treatment, or by the cancer itself.
2020 Mobile chemotherapy unit launched, allowing cancer patients to receive care closer to home
2021 Royal Surrey launches the Varian Ethos© machine, using artificial intelligence to deliver radiotherapy, targeting tumours with extreme precision. This is only the second of its type in use in the UK.
2021 St Luke’s Cancer Centre was recognised as a centre of excellence for brain tumour treatment and research.
2021 Palliative Care is designated as a centre of excellence in of supportive care in cancer by MASCC (Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer)