The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s leading cancer centres
27/03/2026
We have an exciting opportunity for an Advanced Nurse Practitioner to join our team at CCC-Liverpool.
The successful applicant must be motivated and enthusiastic about the specialist care needs of patients, possess good leadership skills, and demonstrate an ability to support, teach, develop and educate others.
If this sounds like you, we want to hear from you!
We're delighted to announce that the first patients have now been scanned on our brand new, state-of-the-art PET-CT scanner at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre - Wirral.
PET-CT provides detailed 3-D images inside the body. It combines position emission tomography (PET) imaging, which uses a mildly radioactive injection to highlight areas where cells are more active than normal, and computed tomography (CT) scans, which involve taking a series of x-rays to provide a three-dimensional view.
The new scanner is the UK's first Siemens HealthineersBiograph Trinion PET-CT machine boasting the very latest technology.
Preparations for the new scanner began in December 2025 and on Wednesday it began to see its first patients.
The machine replaces an older PET-CT scanner that was installed in 2015 at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Wirral (CCC-Wirral). There is also an advanced PET-CT scanner at the main Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool (CCC-Liverpool). As PET-CT is highly specialised with only a few scanners in each region, both scanners are used for patients from many other hospitals in addition to those at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.
Sam Altham is Lead Radiology Manager here at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. She said: "The team have been outstanding throughout this project and have made every effort to minimise disruption to our service, often under extremely challenging circumstances.
"Despite CCC only having one operational PET-CT scanner during this time, we continued to see patients at CCC-Liverpool. The Wirral staff were diverted for this period and utilised optimised workflows, and different working hours to ensure patients continued to be seen. This service delivery is testament to the slick operational planning and skilled coordination of our clinical lead, Diana, our clinical specialists Ana and Alaina and our dedicated PET-CT staff.
“I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved with a special mention to the Nuclear Medicine team and to Physics for your incredible dedication and skills. It's thanks to your efforts we have this fantastic new machine, installed and ready to use, on time and our services have continued throughout.”
For more information, please visit our website via the link in the comments
26/03/2026
We have exciting news! £8.8m is being invested to transform cancer treatment facilities at our Wirral and Halton sites, improving care and comfort for our patients.
These are just two of the locations where we provide systemic anti-cancer therapies (SACT), an umbrella term for treatments such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, targeted therapies and supportive therapies such as the bone-strengthening drugs given to some people with cancer.
The investment includes developing a brand-new SACT treatment unit at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Wirral to replace the Delamere Unit where patients currently have these treatments.
Patients treated at our Halton SACT unit will benefit from the complete modernisation and redesign of the existing facility known as CANTreat.
The first image is an initial design concept for Halton and the second is Wirral. Both show how the new units could look and are not final designs.
25/03/2026
The Lung Cancer team at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre have won a national award in partnership with Roche for their work demonstrating the benefits of giving patients an immunotherapy treatment subcutaneously (injected under the skin) instead of intravenously (into a vein).
They won the Best Contribution to Improving the Efficiency of NHS Services Award at the HSJ Partnership Awards which took place on Thursday 19 March. The team had also been shortlisted in the ‘Best Pharmaceutical Partnership with the NHS’ category.
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre was one of the first hospitals in the North West to roll out the subcutaneous version of the immunotherapy treatment for lung cancer, benefiting patients and the NHS by reducing treatment time while maintaining quality.
The collaboration with Roche is the first real-world study of its kind and used time-stamped data to show that giving the treatment by injection under the skin significantly reduced the time each patient spends on chemotherapy treatment units by an average of 54 minutes each time. It is also far more efficient for hospitals, meaning more patients can be treated and there is less drug wastage.
Patients have also found it more convenient to have subcutaneous treatment as it means they spend less time in hospital.
Hala Ghoz, Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Lung Cancer, said: “The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is a national leader in immunotherapy treatment innovation and we quickly recognised the potential benefits of subcutaneous options for our patients and for the NHS as a whole.
“We started work on this two years ago and it has been a really brilliant team collaboration with Roche. Working together in this way enabled us to use our data to demonstrate the real-world benefits and validate the impact of the change we made.
“Our award was the last of the night and when they said we had won, I just couldn't believe it. It feels incredible to have the judges of a national award recognise our work in this way.”
Consultant Medical Oncologist Dr Jonny Heseltine, who specialises in treating lung cancer, said: "This project shows the huge potential of using real-world data to inform how we can deliver patient care most effectively, improving patient experience and making services really efficient. The dataset for this project was huge and complex so it required a close collaboration between our clinical team and the data scientists at Roche to achieve our aims. This was truly a team effort and we are delighted at the impact it has had."
Lung Cancer Advanced Nurse Practitioner Sarah Rose said: "We know that our patients really value spending less time in hospital, and we hope that by adopting these new treatment methods that we can make life easier and less complicated for them."
Our Metastatic Breast Cancer team and Novartis were also shortlisted for a HSJ Partnership Award for their pioneering work supporting patients with treatment-related toxicities (side-effects).
24/03/2026
A Clatterbridge patient who has had successful treatment on a clinical research trial has spoken about his care in a TV report highlighting inequalities in head and neck cancer.
ITV Granada News shone a spotlight on the widening inequalities in head and neck cancer across the UK – with rates and mortality significantly higher in the North of England and Scotland.
See the link in the comments 👇
24/03/2026
From Tuesday 17 March 2026, patients who log into the NHS App might see some of their appointments at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. Visit our website for more about which appointments will appear in the NHS App - and, just as importantly, which appointments will not appear in the NHS App.
If you are a patient, it is very important to keep reading the appointment letters and text messages that we send you. This is the only way you can get information about all your appointments at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.
Scientists from The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre recently hosted the first UK conference on computer technology enabling efficiency gains in radiotherapy.
The UK ESAPI Workshop brought together specialists using ESAPI – the Eclipse Scripting Application Programming Interface – a specialist tool that allows medical physicists to introduce automation and customise functions within the Eclipse treatment planning system, which is used to create plans for radiotherapy patients.
Clatterbridge is already one of the UK’s leading centres in the use of this technology. By automating certain repetitive and time-consuming tasks in planning treatments, the tool can reduce plan turnaround times, improve quality checks and allow healthcare professionals more time to focus on complex decisions.
For patients, improved efficiency results in shorter waits to start treatment and more consistent, high-quality plans tailored to their needs.
The Clatterbridge team hosted 45 delegates from radiotherapy centres across the UK and Ireland during the two-day event in Liverpool, which was sponsored by Varian/Siemens Healthineers.
23/03/2026
March is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month 💙
Prostate cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in the UK. When it spreads and cannot be cured, it is called metastatic prostate cancer. People with metastatic prostate cancer often need extra support.
By listening to patients and looking at data, our team noticed that not all metastatic prostate cancer patients could get help from a Clinical Nurse Specialist, or CNS. A CNS acts as a link between the patient and their families and doctors, gives practical and emotional support, and makes sure patients get the very best care.
Only 38% of patients had access to this support. Those that did reported they felt more positive, they were more satisfied with their care and they managed their symptoms better than those who didn’t. So our team worked to change this.
Led by Prostate Cancer CNS Helen Blackmore, Advanced Nurse Practitioner (ANP) Sarah Jones, Elaine Deeming, Dr Shaun Tolan and the wider prostate team, alongside Clatterbridge’s Clinical Audit Team, collaborators and partners, a model was developed whereby every patient with metastatic prostate cancer receives the support of a dedicated CNS.
This has made a massive difference and now 100% of patients report having access to CNS support.
Patients feel more satisfied, have fewer unmet needs, and get better help for tiredness, emotional health, and sexual issues. They find it easier to get information and care. Patients and their families call the care “exceptional” and appreciate the comfort and support from the CNS team. More workshops and support groups are available to patients, with plans to add even more.
Doctors and medical teams working with these patients also say communication is better, side effects are managed more quickly, and care is more focused on what patients need, improving their quality of life.
Helen and her team are also taking their work outside of our centres - influencing national conversations and sharing learning to support others to improve prostate cancer care.
Helen (pictured right alongside Urology CNS Emily Adam (left) and ANP Sarah Jones (centre)) said: “People diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer often require enhanced support and I’m delighted that all our patients now have access to that.
“The team and I are dedicated to continuously improving the care and support we offer to our patients. There are lots of opportunities to expand our resources in the future and we’re really excited to provide even more support to those that need it."
20/03/2026
If you're looking for a career change or challenge, we've got some fantastic roles available!
Vacancies include - Clinical Trials Administration Assistant, Senior Chemotherapy Staff Nurse, and Advanced Informatics Pharmacist.
In 1973, when Cathy Ball spotted a job advert in the Liverpool Echo for a shorthand typist at the local cancer hospital, she only expected to be here for about six months.
Now, an incredible 53 years later, Cathy is set to enjoy a very well deserved retirement after more than five decades as a medical secretary at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.
Things have certainly changed a lot over the last 53 years. Cathy and her work friends used to enjoy spending their summer lunch breaks by the heated swimming pool on the hospital campus. She also remembers when a cup of coffee in the hospital canteen cost just 2p.
And technology has transformed how medical secretaries work. Cathy says: “The doctors used to dictate letters to us. We would take it down in shorthand and then use a portable typewriter. We also typed up all their handwritten casenotes.”
As she retires, Cathy hopes to spend more time with her family, including her 3 grandchildren, and to spend more time pursuing her love of travelling.
“I have mixed feelings about retiring,” she says. “I’m sad to be leaving the team because I’ve made some great friends here and I will miss them all but I think it’s time to call it a day after 53 years and enjoy some more ‘me’ time.”
We wish Cathy a long and very happy retirement after so many decades of service at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre 💚
20/03/2026
Thank you to all of our staff who got involved with our very successful litter pick in the sun at CCC-W - you're helping us to make a simple yet powerful, positive difference.
Our workforce are one of the greatest assets that we have at CCC with regards to bringing about sustainable change, so it's great to see the enthusiasm and support from colleagues!
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The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is one of the UK’s leading cancer centres providing highly specialist cancer care to a population of 2.3m people across Cheshire, Merseyside and the surrounding areas including the Isle of Man.
We are based in Wirral, Merseyside supported by a £17m radiotherapy treatment centre in Aintree, Liverpool. We also operate specialist chemotherapy clinics in seven of Merseyside’s district hospitals and deliver a pioneering Treatment at Home service.
Together, this enables us to provide a comprehensive range of inpatient care, advanced radiotherapy, chemotherapy and other systemic anti-cancer therapies (i.e. medicines) including gene therapies and immunotherapies. We are also the only facility in the UK providing low-energy proton beam therapy to treat rare eye cancers and host the region’s Teenage and Young Adult Unit, (supported by the Teenage Cancer Trust).
We are a tertiary cancer centre which means we see patients who have already been diagnosed and referred to us by other hospitals. We provide non-surgical cancer care e.g. chemotherapy and radiotherapy for solid tumours and blood cancers.
Our services include:
Academic oncology – professors and senior clinical lecturers appointed jointly with the University of Liverpool
Acute oncology – specialist cancer support in A&E and acute care in other hospitals
Chemotherapy and other systemic anti-cancer treatments (SACT). These are drug treatments for cancer and include gene therapies, immunotherapies and other molecular agents
Haemato-oncology – in July 2017 the management of the Royal Liverpool University Hospital’s Haemato-oncology service transferred to The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. This service provides inpatient and outpatient care for acute leukaemia; chronic leukaemia; lymphoma; myeloma and bone marrow (stem cell) transplant
Eye proton therapy – we have the UK’s only low-energy proton beam therapy facility for treating rare eye tumours
Imaging and pre-treatment radiotherapy (diagnostic imaging / treatment planning) – we have PET-CT, CT, MRI, x-ray facilities and treatment planning
Inpatient wards – we have 73 inpatient beds across our three wards on our Wirral site
Pharmacy – we manufacture all the chemotherapy doses for solid tumour cancers in Cheshire & Merseyside
Physics – our physicists provide essential scientific support for radiotherapy treatment
Radiotherapy – we have 10 linear accelerators (radiotherapy treatment machines). Six at the Wirral site; three at the Aintree site; one in the Clatterbridge Private Clinic
Research & development – we carry out leading-edge clinical trials of new cancer treatments. Our BioBank of donated tissue provides a valuable resource for cancer researchers
Supportive care – including physiotherapy, psychological support, palliative care, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, cancer information, financial / benefits advice, and survivorship / living with and beyond cancer
Triage & assessment – we provide rapid-access assessment clinics and 24-hour phone support for patients who need urgent advice or care while having cancer treatment
We are expanding and improving cancer care even further with the development of a new 11-floor specialist cancer hospital in the heart of Liverpool. The new cancer hospital is due to open in 2020 and will provide highly-specialist cancer care for people with blood cancers and solid tumours. Although the Liverpool hospital will become our main base, we will also continue providing services at our current site in Wirral and our satellite radiotherapy centre on the Aintree site.
Being located in central Liverpool alongside the University of Liverpool and Royal Liverpool University Hospital will significantly improve care for people with cancer:
Our main base will be closer to the majority of the population we serve, which stretches from Southport down to Wirral and across to Widnes / Warrington. People who live closer to Wirral / Aintree will still be able to access care locally as we’re keeping our current sites
Unlike now, we will be co-located with a major acute teaching hospital providing rapid access to intensive care and other key medical and surgical specialties when patients need them. At the moment these patients have to be transferred by emergency ambulance to other hospitals
We will be at the heart of a thriving research and healthcare campus with the University of Liverpool, NHS and other key research partners, enabling even more ground breaking cancer research and clinical trials.
You can find out more about the new building here.
