Cancer patients can now access palliative care services from the comfort of a new purpose-built centre, instead of dilapidated temporary cabins. The new T Geraint palliative care resource centre, at Bronglais Hospital, in Aberystwyth, will officially be opened this week. It replaces a temporary centre in the hospital’s car park which had no running water or toilet facilities, which could not accommodate patients.

By contrast, the new centre, which was funded by the New Opportunities Fund and local Rotarians and resembles a detached house, even boasts state-of-the-art telemedicine links with community hospitals elsewhere in Ceredigion and the Marie Curie Hospice (Holme Tower), in Penarth.

Dr Alan Axford, medical director for Ceredigion and Mid Wales NHS Trust and lead cancer clinician, said, ‘Our palliative care nurses were working from the old building, which, frankly, was not fit for habitation.

‘Under the old arrangement, we could not take patients into the centre because it was in such a dreadful state of repair.

‘T Geraint has greatly improved the environment in which our staff are now working.

‘The feedback from patients has so far been very positive.’

The official opening of T Geraint by Health Minister Brian Gibbons on Wednesday, comes almost four years after the trust initially applied for pounds 300,000 funding to replace the temporary buildings.

Local Rotary clubs also raised pounds 75,000, which has paid for the telemedicine suite.

The telemedicine links - which allow people to communicate face- to-face with others long distances away, as well as analyse clinical data - will mainly be used to link T Geraint to Cardigan and Tregaron community hospitals, which provide outreach palliate care.

But it will also link the new centre to Penarth for educational purposes and to allow clinicians to discuss patients with complex palliative care needs.

The centre will be home to a range of therapies available to everyone needing palliative care, including art therapy, aromatherapy, Reiki and reflexology. The centre’s complementary therapists and psychologist are also using the centre as a base for a three-year research project into the local population’s palliative care needs. Jill Cutress, a Macmillan nurse based at T Geraint, said, ‘The old cabin was damp and, although it had a ramp for disabled access, once someone got to the top, they couldn’t turn the wheelchair around to get in. ‘Because it was so damp, it always smelled musty. There was no running water or toilet and, for the past couple of years, we wouldn’t even take families in there when we needed somewhere private to talk. ‘When we started to get rain coming through the light fittings, we were all anxious about being in there. ‘The new centre is wonderful in comparison - a lot of patients will now just drop in to see if any of us are around, something we didn’t encourage them to do before because of the state of the building.’ Although palliative care is mainly associated with cancer patients who have a terminal diagnosis, many of the patients who use the centre are currently undergoing curative chemotherapy. And while the majority of people using it to access support and information have been diagnosed, it is also used by people with end- stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease.: New care centre named after loyal supporter:The new T Geraint palliative care centre has been named after Lord Geraint, right, a long-time supporter of Bronglais Hospital. Lord Geraint of Ponterwyd, who died in April 2004 , was the former Liberal Democrat MP for Ceredigion and a member of the House of Lords.

He launched the scanner and cancer appeal in 1990 to raise money for the hospital, exceeding the pounds 1m target he had set for the Millennium. About pounds 45,000 raised by the appeal was also donated to help build and equip T Geraint. Dr Alan Axford, Ceredigion and Mid Wales NHS Trust’s medical director, said, ‘Lord Geraint was particularly supportive of the cancer ward so we thought it was appropriate that there should be some recognition of his major contribution to this hospital.’

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