ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
‘Personalised’ cancer treatment facilities growing
Chris Oates, Architect director at BDP, explains how the latest cancer care facilities are enabling patients to be treated in increasingly personalised environments. Drawing on recent UK case studies, he also highlights the considerable advantages of co-locating specialist cancer treatment facilities, scientific research, and academic centres, on one site – both to medical personnel and scientists / academics.
The pace of scientific research in the global development of new cancer treatments is astonishing, with precision medicines dramatically improving survivability rates; these have doubled since 1970. Immuno-oncology therapies empower the immune system to recognise and react to tumour cells, and biomarker- guided therapies target the mutation in tumour cells at a molecular level, in effect creating a completely personalised approach to treatment, treating the disease at a systemic level. In parallel with the developments in clinical treatment, new cancer care environments are enabling patients to be treated in increasingly personalised environments, or even in the comfort of their own homes, if their circumstances allow this. Individual flexible chemotherapy bays incorporated into departmental layouts allow patients to control their own environment, and choose a level of interaction with others that suits them. This sense of control over environment and choice extends to the design of waiting areas and provision of external spaces adjacent to treatment areas. Production pharmacies co-located on hospital sites allow individualised medicines to be created locally to the patient, taking place side by side with biological research and clinical trials.
The power of personalised treatments We will cover the power of personalised treatment healing and research, grounded by three recent BDP case study projects – the new Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool, the replacement for the Paterson Research Building at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, and The Oak Cancer Centre in South London.
Clatterbridge Cancer Centre, Liverpool Completed in 2020, with an overall area of 27,800 m2
is located within the heart of the city’s Knowledge Quarter on a site adjacent to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital,
The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre in Liverpool. Top, chemotherapy chair bays. Above left: The radiotherapy zone benefits from a ‘huge central lightwell’, and access to an outdoor Winter Garden (pictured). Above right: The radiotherapy waiting area.
, Clatterbridge Cancer Centre
and close to the University of Liverpool. Having previously been based on the Wirral, with a dedicated radiotherapy centre at Aintree University Hospital, the location next to an acute hospital (Royal Liverpool University Hospital) enables both pioneering clinical trials and care for more complex and seriously unwell cancer patients, with rapid access to critical care and acute medical and surgical specialties. The specialist 11-storey hospital has 110 single inpatient beds, delivering a wide range of highly specialist cancer care, including pioneering chemotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy, haemato- oncology, and radiotherapy. It has state-of-the-art facilities for bone marrow transplant, diagnostics, and imaging,
outpatients, day case treatments, a Teenage & Young Adult Unit, and clinical therapies.
Privacy and space The hospital has also been designed to ensure that patients have plenty of privacy and space, which can be personalised to individual needs. Every inpatient has their own single en-suite room, further reducing any risk of infection. The inpatient rooms and the Chemotherapy suite benefit from being at the top of the building, and have spectacular views across the city and across to the Wirral peninsula. The stepped massing to the prow of the building creates landscaped terraces which allow patients to access nature and fresh air. Radiotherapy
January 2023 Health Estate Journal 27
Images courtesy of BDP
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