UCAN fundraiser for gamechanging centre launched
UCAN has launched its latest ambitious fundraising challenge to raise £2.5 million pounds by the end of the year to fund a Urological Cancer Rapid Diagnostic Centre (RDC) that will revolutionise the way patients are treated in the north of Scotland. Thursday evening’s event at Aberdeen’s Chester Hotel was the first of several UCAN RDC Roadshows that will be staged over the coming months and was attended by 60 people.
UCAN co-founder Professor James N’Dow OBE, after announcing that £400,000 has already been raised towards the total, explained the lifechanging implications that the RDC will provide. “It will enable 70% of patients to receive a diagnosis the same day they are seen resulting in massive savings, a significant reduction in our carbon footprint and will allow us to double the capacity.”
It will be a world class facility that, in addition to vastly improving the use of clinicians time, will transform the lives of people in the North of Scotland where 1500 men and women are diagnosed annually with a urological cancer.
The RDC aims to enable patients with a suspected urological cancer to be seen quicker, and to have all of their scans and/or diagnostic procedures during a single visit to hospital. The RDC aims to significantly reduce the time to diagnosis, which will improve cancer treatment outcomes and reduce anxiety for patients and their families across the North of Scotland.
The RDC will further enhance Aberdeen Royal Infirmary as a Centre of Excellence for the diagnosis and treatment of Urological Cancers, make more effective use of Clinicians time and help to continue attracting the best Medical Practitioners from around the World.
UCAN opened the UCAN Centre at ARI three years later, a drop-in service staffed by highly experienced urological cancer specialist nurses, providing information and support in plain language for patients and their families. This includes a helpline, which is accessible via telephone and email.
UCAN successfully implemented the first robotic surgical system in Scotland in 2015, transforming the care urological cancer patients are receiving in the North of Scotland. The robotic surgical system funded by UCAN and the staff trained by UCAN funding are continuing to provide the highest quality urological care for patients, providing reduced recovery time and complications.
Two years ago, UCAN funded a new Ultrasound scanning machine which enabling a new technique for prostate biopsy which has less side-effects and which also enables ultra-sound guided surgery for renal cancer to be offered to patients in the North of Scotland and last year the charity funded extra nurse specialists to provide support to more patients and their families in the North of Scotland.
Many thanks to Alan Massie and Breakwater Agency for kindly sponsoring the evening.
For further details of the campaign, visit ucanaberdeen.com/rdcappeal
