Investment boosts essential drug provision

National cancer director, Professor Mike Richards, officially opened the state-of-the-art pharmacy unit last April. The unit was built to increase the availability of chemotherapy for patients of the Christie Hospital and other local hospitals. This further investment will ensure that predicted increasing future demands for chemotherapy and other specialist drug compounds such as antibiotic mixes and monoclonal antibody therapies can be met.

The unit currently provides 130,000 doses of chemotherapy per year, and this additional investment will allow capacity to increase by up to 40% to meet predicted future demands and widen the diversity of products supplied.

Caroline Shaw, chief executive, Christie Hospital Trust said: “Additional investment in this new unit is good news. As we continue to treat more patients it’s essential that we have high quality chemotherapy delivered safely and quickly for them. Our partnership with Baxter and the continued investment in its state-ofthe- art facilities will ensure this.”