His Royal Highnesses The Earl of Wessex officially opened The Christie's Oak Road Patient Treatment Centre earlier today (Wednesday 11^th April).

The Earl was shown around the Patient Treatment Centre by the specialist cancer centre's chairman Lord Keith Bradley and deputy chief executive Roger Spencer, and was introduced to several members of staff, fundraisers and patients.  During his tour, he visited several integral parts of the centre, including the blood room, pharmacy, clinical trials unit and chemotherapy lounge.    

Lord Keith Bradley of The Christie, said:

"With its state-of-the-art treatment and research facilities, our Oak RoadPatient Treatment Centre has brought major benefits to our patients.  We are now incredibly proud to house a chemotherapy suite, our Clinical Trials Unit, which is the world's largest for early phase cancer trials and more recently our six bed inpatient facility for clinical trials. 

"His Royal Highness caused some great excitement and pride across the Trust, and we were delighted that he could come in person and officially open our centre.  Bringing this project from planning stage to completion has been a real team effort, so this visit gave us another chance to thank all those involved, whether they are staff or external supporters."

The High Sheriff of Greater Manchester, Mr George Almond, along with Mrs Elisabeth Almond and The Lord Mayor of Manchester, Councillor Harry Lyons with the Lady Mayoress Ms Alison Cain, were also present for the visit.

The £35 million Oak Road Patient Treatment Centre includes 70 beds, 10 consulting suites, a phlebotomy room for blood tests, a pharmacy and two laboratories.    It delivers 36,000 chemotherapy treatments per year and has over 2,400 patients participating in over 400 different clinical trials annually. 

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