REGIONAL BUSINESSES SUPPORT WORLD FIRST MOBILE CANCER CARE UNIT

Gloucestershire charity Hope for Tomorrow has launched its next generation mobile medical cancer care unit, thanks to the support from businesses across the region.

Cited as a world first in healthcare innovation, the unit will visit communities to offer a range of services including accessible daily clinics, cancer screening and education programmes, and a variety of treatments. Building the unit was made possible by a generous grant of nearly £750,000 from global pharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb. The grant willl cover the build costs of the next generation unit as well as another unit which will be built to existing specifications.

Along with Bristol Myers Squibb, other local businesses have supported the project. Bristol-based Bence Coachworks built the unit in Yate and it was unveiled at a special gala dinner at Cheltenham Racecourse, sponsored by companies including Tier One, Think Systems, Bence, the charity’s IT communications provider Eurolink Connect, Ontic, Gloucester Care Providers Association and Premiere Kitchens.

Think Systems also pledged to fund the nurse support vehicle for the new mobile cancer care unit for the next four years.

Using the unit, NHS Trusts will be able to offer patients more choice of where their cancer care is delivered with less time spent attending appointments.

The unit includes two hydraulic powered consultation rooms which expand from its sides, with each room fully connected with digital facilities so that patients and staff on board can connect remotely to the main hospital if necessary. Being attached to its HGV chassis means the unit is fully mobile and can be moved from location to location.

Hope for Tomorrow designed and launched its first mobile cancer care unit in 2007 in Cheltenham. Its fleet grew to 13 units and the charity now employs 14 people.

Twelve mobile cancer care units are currently allocated to NHS Trusts, with two units remaining in reserve to ensure no interruptions to service. Throughout the Covid-19 crisis, available reserve units were deployed to support NHS Trusts wherever possible, allowing vital cancer services to continue. Hope for Tomorrow is also providing support with tackling the backlog caused by the pandemic; enabling treatments to take place away from hospital.

Tina Seymour, CEO of Hope for Tomorrow said: “This unit has been three years in the making and the result is a testament to our relentless commitment in making crucial cancer care more accessible for all.

“Hope for Tomorrow relies entirely on donations to build and maintain our units and Bristol Myers Squibb provided us with an extremely generous grant which has allowed us to specify and build the next generation unit. Unless you have experienced our units first-hand, few will fully comprehend just how much value they bring to patients’ treatments, care and lives, and the support from local companies means we can now take this to the next level.”

Entrepreneurs join Tech Nation programme to support black and multi-racial businesses

Tech Nation, the UK’s leading scale-up accelerator for tech companies, has revealed the 30 companies joining its newest growth programme, Libra, which is designed to equip ambitious black and multi-racial (with black heritage) entrepreneurs with the knowledge and networks they need to scale their business.

And in a sea of London-based businesses (19), the rest of the country has secured just 11 places on the programme, including two from Bristol and one from Oxford.

Bristol-based Brijj is a project management tool built for data and analytics teams to collaborate with their stakeholders so they can deliver high-quality, actionable insights together.

Voltric, also based in Bristol, is a mobility-as-a-service provider. The allinclusive electric vehicle subscription service allows consumers to access a range of electric cars all for one price per month without the concerns of managing insurance, tax, MOT and everything needed to get on the road.

Hutano Diagnostics is based in Oxford. During the 2014 West African Ebola outbreak, Zimbabwe-born founder and CEO Atherton Mutombwera was shocked to learn how many deaths could have been prevented through wider availability of diagnostics. Across the African continent there were only 14 centralised laboratories that could diagnose Ebola, the lack of which contributed to the 70 per cent fatality rate.

The company is developing a modular configurable Lateral Flow Device (LFD) platform. This platform is configurable for either single disease, or simultaneous multiple disease diagnosis, on the same LFD strip. Once developed, the platform reduces the time to LFD development in preparation for future specific disease outbreaks from two years to six months.

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