The Prince of Wales is taking the battle for a cure a step further as he helped open the Oak Cancer Centre at The Royal Marsden in Sutton – a new state-of-the-art treatment and research facility.
The centre, funded by the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, has been a years-long effort by The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. Technology at the centre will help accelerate the development of new treatments and help doctors diagnose more cancer patients at an earlier stage. In addition to its technology, the centre was designed to bring peace of mind to patients with bright and peaceful environments.
In 2020, His Royal Highness visited The Royal Marsden in Sutton to commemorate the start of construction for the cancer centre. This came 30 years after The Prince’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, laid a ceremonial foundation stone to commemorate the building of the Chelsea Wing at Royal Marsden Chelsea.
During his visit to the new centre, the Prince met with patients who will be treated in the Oak Cancer Centre’s Olayan Day Care Unit and heard about the difference the building will make to them and their treatment. It wasn’t just patients Prince William met with; he chatted with some of the hospital’s world-leading researchers who will carry out research in the new Kuok Research Centre.
With researchers under the same roof as patients, The Royal Marsden can develop its ‘bench-to-beside’ approach further, helping to emphasise the importance of personalised care through diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.
Emma Bishop, a patient at the centre, told the Prince of Wales during his visit: “The Royal Marsden has saved my life, and I am so excited that the Oak Cancer Centre will support clinicians to save even more lives in the future.”
The Royal Marsden opened in 1851 as the world’s first hospital dedicated to cancer diagnosis, treatment, research, and education. Now, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Treatment is a world-leading cancer centre specialising in those topics across three sites in Chelsea, Sutton, and Cavendish Square in Central London. William has been President of The Royal Marsden since 2007, a role his mother previously held.
