Three Novalis Centers in the UK Certified to meet a New Standard for Radiosurgery
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Edinburgh Cancer Centre and The Christie at Salford Royal, comply with a quality program for precision radiation treatment established by an international consortium
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Aintree Liverpool, The Edinburgh Cancer Centre and The Christie at Salford Royal in Manchester are the first centres in Europe to receive a certification of compliance to a new emerging quality standard for radiosurgery, following an independent audit through an internationally recognized expert committee.
The “Novalis® Standard” specifies best practice in radiosurgery regarding specific workflows delivered with a premium configuration of components, personnel requirements, commissioning and quality assurance. The Novalis Circle user community, sharing one of the leading technologies for radiosurgery, established this standard for safe radiosurgery.
James Robar, Novalis Certified Auditor, Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology Physics and Atmospheric Science at Dalhousie University, and Chief of Medical Physics at Capital Health, who was part of the UK audit team, said, “We are very pleased to deliver the first certifications in Europe, and the three UK centres now join a group of leading oncology units from across the world. Novalis Certified is an independent programme directed by the Novalis Circle and is available to qualified centres that show an exceptional commitment to safety and quality in the treatment of cancers with radiosurgery and stereotactic body radiation therapy.”
Novalis Circle and its Certified Standard provide reassurance of high and rigorous standards in radiosurgery, where high doses of radiation are used to treat patients.
The three centres officially received the Novalis Certified plaques at a ceremony before the Novalis Circle UK and Ireland meeting in Liverpool, attended by leading international clinicians specialising in brain and extracranial conditions, radiosurgery physics staff and treatment radiographers.
“We are delighted to be one of the first cancer centres in the UK to receive this certification”, said Dr. Brian Haylock, Clinical Director for Radiation Services at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. “As one of the largest radiotherapy treatment centres in the UK, patient safety is paramount to the Trust, and the fact that our procedures for highly complex treatments have been assessed and approved to this international standard helps to ensure that our staff and patients know we are adhering to high quality standards of patient safety.”
Dr. Sara Erridge, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at NHS Lothian, commented, “The Edinburgh Cancer Centre in NHS Lothian has many years of excellence and experience in radiosurgery. But after upgrading our systems in 2011, we were able to substantially improve our therapeutic options. We are delighted to receive this certification and it recognises the quality of the treatment we offer for radiotherapy patients across Scotland.”
Dr Catherine McBain, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at The Christie at Salford Royal, added: “We are very pleased indeed to receive this important recognition of the quality of the care delivered by our Stereotactic Radiosurgery Service, which combines Salford Royal’s expertise in neurosciences with The Christie’s expertise in precision radiotherapy. The audit was a rigorous process, scrutinising all aspects of the patient pathway and treatment delivery, and the team is looking forward to building on this success to develop our service further.”
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About the Novalis Circle
The Novalis Circle, a worldwide network of clinicians, is dedicated to the advancement of radiosurgery. Novalis® Radiosurgery users represent the leading edge in the application of radiosurgery and SBRT and their participation in the Novalis Circle community indicates their strong commitment to improving healthcare. The Novalis Circle provides a communication and collaboration network for developing new ideas and improving treatments that will continue to change the face of cancer treatment. The Novalis Standard was established and approved by a Novalis Circle expert committee. For further information, visit www.NovalisCircle.org.
About The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre based in Wirral, Mersesyide is one of the largest networked cancer centres in the UK, and its radiotherapy treatment centre on the Aintree Hospital site in Liverpool is located adjacent to the UK’s only specialist neuroscience NHS Trust. From nine operating sites across Merseyside and Cheshire, the centre has more than 220,000 patient contacts a year, offering pioneering chemotherapy, radiotherapy and proton therapy treatments to over 30,000 patients. As one of the largest radiotherapy centres in the UK, they delivered just under 100,000 outpatient radiotherapy treatments during 2013/14. The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre was the first centre in the UK to treat patients with Novalis Tx™.
About Edinburgh Cancer Centre
Edinburgh Cancer Centre covers a catchment area of 1.4 million people from south east Scotland, treating more than 3,600 patients each year. The Novalis Tx™ is one of the Centre’s six linear accelerators which provide a full range of ‘state of the art’ treatments for all cancer types. The multi-disciplinary intracranial stereotactic service was set up in 1995 and delivers treatments for patients from all over Scotland with a range of benign and malignant brain lesions.
About The Christie at Salford Royal
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust is the largest single-site cancer centre in Europe. It treats 40,000 patients a year and has been pioneering cancer research for more than 100 years. It provides radiotherapy through one of the largest radiotherapy departments in the world at its main site in south Manchester and its radiotherapy centres in Oldham and Salford. On average 400 Christie patients are treated each day with radiotherapy. The Christie also houses the UK’s largest brachytherapy service.
The Christie at Salford Royal radiotherapy centre, which opened in July 2011, houses two state-of-the-art Novalis Tx™ radiotherapy machines, enabling it to offer stereotactic radiosurgery for cancerous and non-cancerous brain conditions, for which patients previously had to travel to Sheffield. It also delivers a range of other radiotherapy treatments, allowing patients to receive treatment closer to home.
Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust is an integrated provider of hospital, community and primary care services. The Trust employs over 6,000 staff and provides local services, such as community, outpatient, A&E, general and emergency surgery, to the City of Salford and specialist services to Greater Manchester and beyond for patients who require neurosciences, intestinal failure, stroke, trauma, dermatology and renal expertise. The Greater Manchester Neurosciences Centre is one of the biggest in the UK and this Novalis accreditation further enhances the high quality of care that is delivered to the population across the entire spectrum of neurosciences conditions. The Lead Neurosurgeon in Stereotactic Radiosurgery is Mr James Leggate.