Cancer centre staff win award for work (From Bicester Advertiser)

Cancer centre staff win award for work

6:30am Wednesday 11th November 2009

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A TEAM which checks thousands of Oxfordshire women for breast cancer each year has been recognised for its excellence.

Staff from the breast imaging centre at the Oxford Cancer Centre, in Headington, will travel to the House of Commons tomorrow, where they will officially be named the Society of Radiographers’ South East Team of the Year.

Members of the 32-strong team will be congratulated on their achievement by Health Secretary Andy Burnham.

The team, which includes 14 mammographers – specialists in breast imaging who check for cancer and other diseases – was recognised by the society for its ‘seamless’ transition of services from the Churchill Hospital to the new £109m cancer centre, which opened on the site in March this year.

Last night, people who have passed through the doors of the unit spoke of the first class care they received.

Sheila Hatton, 53, from Carterton, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007.

She had been for a routine screening at the Churchill as soon as she hit 50, and the tests had come back clear.

But a year to the day after the first screening she found a lump on her breast.

Mrs Hatton, whose 16-year-old son Jack is also recovering from leukaemia, will go back to the centre later this month for a routine mammogram.

She said the award was well deserved and added: “Everyone makes you feel so comfortable and they remember your name as well.

“Little things like that make a difference.

“I simply cannot fault any part of my care.”

The team are responsible for around 76,000 women in the county aged between 50 and 70.

Each woman on the team’s books is invited to have a routine scan at the centre every three years.

The team is also responsible for mobile breast screening units located in areas including Witney and Bicester, which are used by women who are unable to get to Oxford.

Once the scans have been taken using a state-of-the-art mammography machine, they are analysed for abnormalities.

If any are found, the team then liaise with specialists to work out the best next step for each patient Jane Gerrish, superintendent radiographer for Oxfordshire, said she nominated the team because they were passionate and care about patients.

She will join programme manager Linda Field in London tomorrow to receive the award.

Mrs Field said: “We are all chuffed to bits to get this. It’s nice to have positive news.

“People can be very hard about the NHS so it’s nice to get some positive feedback and for staff to know they’re being recognised for their hard work.”

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