23 June 2010
The Christie and HCA International Limited announce joint venture for private cancer patientsThe new partnership will produce more funds for NHS patient services
The Christie and HCA International Limited have agreed a £14 million joint venture to develop a new private patient cancer centre.
The Christie - which is based in Manchester and is Europe's largest cancer centre - plans to increase income for its NHS developments through joining forces with HCA - which is the UK's largest provider of cancer care services outside the NHS.
The partnership agreement will cover all areas of cancer treatment and care including surgery, chemotherapy, haemato-oncology, (including transplants) and radiotherapy and will be called ‘The Christie Clinic'.
The Christie's income from private patients has grown by over 14% since 2005 to around £10 million per year - representing around 6% of the cancer centre's total £173 million income. This partnership will expand the range of private cancer services in the North of England through substantial investment in a new private cancer centre, and state-of-the-art cancer diagnostics, surgical cancer services, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. These new services will be provided from the new centre from 2013 onwards. The Christie Clinic will become part of HCA's Leaders in Oncology Care network.
Caroline Shaw, chief executive of The Christie, said;
"We are delighted to be working with HCA who have an outstanding track-record of providing high quality cancer care.
"This partnership will provide a world-class cancer service for private patients, but importantly it will also enable us to enhance our NHS services. Our profit from The Christie Clinic will go into caring for our NHS patients."
Mr Michael Neeb, President and Chief Executive Officer of HCA International Limited said the agreement with The Christie was a milestone for private patient cancer care in the UK. "Two dynamic organisations are joining forces to combine the unique strengths of both parties to create this new facility for private patients from all over the North of England," he said.
"The Christie is an international leader in cancer research and I am very excited that we have been able to reach agreement to develop our first joint venture cancer centre outside London and the South East," he said. "Both of our organisations have the same commitment to provide the highest standards of care and we intend that this joint venture will ultimately benefit both private and NHS patients," said Mr Neeb.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
About The Christie
The Christie treats more than 40,000 patients a year and is an international leader in research.
As a national cancer specialist, 26% of patients come from outside the Greater Manchester and Cheshire area. The Christie provides radiotherapy through one of the largest radiotherapy departments in the world and a second site in Oldham; chemotherapy on site and through 14 other hospitals; highly specialist surgery for complex and rare cancer; and a wide range of support and diagnostic services.
It has been achieving world first cancer treatment breakthroughs for over 100 years, and will open the world's largest phase I clinical trial units this year.
For more information please contact: Alicia Custis, Head of Communications at The Christie, tel: 0161 446 3706 / mobile: 07899 797065 - e-mail: alicia.custis@christie.nhs.uk
About HCA
HCA International owns London's six leading private hospitals, each with an international reputation for providing the highest standards of care. They are: The Wellington - the largest private hospital in Europe, The London Bridge Hospital, The Harley Street Clinic, The Portland Hospital for Women and Children, The Lister Hospital and The Princess Grace Hospital.
HCA also has four outpatient and diagnostic centres, soon to be six, together with a blood and bone cancer treatment joint venture with the NHS at University College Hospital, London; The London Gamma Knife Centre at Barts, another joint venture with the NHS at St Bartholomew's Hospital and Harley Street at Queen's, a private patient cancer centre at the NHS Queen's Hospital in Romford.
HCA's UK hospital facilities treat around 300,000 patients per year. They also specialise in the most complex medical procedures. The HCA CancerCare network, for example, is the largest provider of cancer care in the UK outside the NHS.
The HCA CancerCare network treats all cancers in all ages of patients. Uniquely for the private sector, HCA also has its own clinical trials division based on London's Harley Street.
In recent years HCA has invested over £250 million in capital expenditure including the latest diagnostic and treatment technology. As an example, HCA installed at The Harley Street Clinic, the revolutionary CyberKnife robotic radiotherapy machine, which is able to target previously untreatable tumours. It is the first machine of its kind in the UK.
The HCA group is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee and in the US it owns almost 200 acute hospitals. It is now the largest provider of private healthcare in the world. The company was formed by a number of doctors including Dr Thomas Frist in 1969. The Frist family are still associated with the company to this day.
For more media information about HCA, please contact: Neil Huband on 07808 298989 or 020 7436 6372
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