A new national charity which aims to help the fight against cancer has been launched at Westminster. ACORRN (Academic Clinical Oncology and Radiobiology Research Network) – Action Radiotherapy wants to raise £5m to improve radiotherapy treatment for patients.
Demand for radiotherapy services is expected to almost double over the next few years, yet only six per cent of money spent on cancer research in the UK goes towards research to advance radiotherapy practice. This means that Britain is now lagging behind other parts of Europe and the US in terms of introducing vital new radiotherapy techniques and many patients are without access to state-of-the-art treatment.
ACORRN – Action Radiotherapy – the first UK-based radiotherapy charity - is therefore mounting a major fund-raising campaign. Donations will be used to support the research network, increase the number of radiotherapy researchers and expert staff in the UK and develop National Centres of Excellence in radiotherapy research and treatment
The charity’s website (www.acorrn.org) will also allow more than 1,600 representatives from the medical profession – all members of the ACORRN network - to share expertise interactively as they look for safer ways to provide radiotherapy treatment and, in turn, cure more cancer patients.
