Bringing proton beam therapy to the UK patients

Here, John McIntosh, general manager of Rutherford Health’s development arm, Rutherford Estates, explains how Rutherford Health plc has built and begun operating three such advanced cancer centres across the UK, and is on course to deliver more.

Rutherford Health Plc was established in 2015 to advance cancer care in the UK through the application of precision radiotherapy and personalised care. The company was the first to introduce highenergy proton beam therapy to the UK, in Spring 2018 – at its centre in Wales, the Rutherford Cancer Centre South Wales. In just four years, it has created three stateof-the-art cancer centres, and is on course to deliver more through its development arm, Rutherford Estates. Despite the highly technical and exacting requirements, Rutherford Estates has proved that it is able to produce a brand new centre from concept to handover in under two years, and is now a world-leader in developing a set of networked proton beam therapy treatment centres.  In this article I will be aiming to give an insight into how the company has got there so quickly, and some of the issues we have both confronted, and overcome, along the way.

Proton beam therapy is a type of radiotherapy that delivers heavily charged protons in a precise manner, reducing residual damage to peripheral healthy tissue and organs. While protons deliver the same damage to cancer cells as radiotherapy; they can be controlled to stop at a defined point in the body. Due to its precision and accuracy, research highlights that proton therapy is particularly effective in treating cancers in children, and hard-to-reach cancers in the brain or near the spinal cord. More than 150,000 cancer patients in the UK every year are treated with radiation therapy, of which 90,000 require radical radiotherapy. Internationally, it is widely accepted that at least 10% of these patients could be better treated with proton therapy. Each Rutherford Cancer Centre is equipped to treat up to 500 patients with proton beam therapy per year. In addition to proton beam therapy, each centre also offers conventional cancer treatments, such as imaging, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy, as well as a full suite of diagnostic services.