Norfolk hospital to invest £4.5m in cancer treatment
A hospital is to spend £4.5m over the next five years to boost cancer treatment for about 200 patients a month in Norfolk and north Suffolk.
Two more radiotherapy machines at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital will bring numbers up to six.
This equipment is used to treat a range of cancers and uses high-energy x-rays to destroy infected cells.
Very high voltage equipment in a new treatment room will deal with skin cancers and shallow body tumours.
Dr Tom Roques, consultant oncologist, said: "Radiotherapy is a very effective treatment for curing many patients of their cancer and can also be used to manage symptoms even if the cancer is incurable.
"With life expectancy rising, we anticipate more people will need treatment for cancer in the future, and this expansion is critical to help meet that need.
"We have a staged plan for installing the equipment with the first linear accelerator to be installed once the building work is complete and a second one due to be installed in 2015."
The construction work will start in October 2012 with the first patients being treated in the new facilities by the end of summer 2013.