WARRINGTON & Halton Hospitals has officially opened a new breast care centre at the Captain Sir Tom Moore (CSTM) building and a new modular pre-treatment centre to the rear of the CSTM.
The Breast Care Centre located on the ground floor of the building in Halton, offers a superior location for women in Warrington, Halton, Knowsley, St Helen’s, to choose to attend for their routine breast screening mammograms. It also provides comprehensive diagnostics and support to patients that have anomalies on routine breast screening or those who have noticed breast changes or found lumps that are referred in via their GP.
The centre is home to two new mammography rooms, two ultrasound clinic rooms, consultation and counselling rooms and is located on the ground floor, next to the existing MRI/CT service which is usually involved as part of a cancer diagnosis. It is also below the existing surgical ward which, under a dedicated ‘green pathway’ now carries out a wide range of cancer surgery in addition to its longstanding orthopaedic operations.
Patients accessing breast services have doubled in the past 20 years and this new facility brings together specialist resources and equipment in a setting that offers a significantly enhanced patient access and experience. It opens following an extensive public consultation on the reconfiguration of breast services in Warrington and Halton in which more than two-thirds of respondents supported the relocation of the assessment and symptomatic services from the Victorian Kendrick Wing at Warrington Hospital to the modern facilities at Halton Hospital.
For patients requiring procedures, including cancer surgeries, a new modular Pre-Treatment Unit has also been created to the rear of the CSTM. This unit supports the elective ‘green pathway’ with pre-surgery COVID-19 swabbing as well as carrying out full pre-operative work ups. Patients are no longer required to enter the hospital for these tests and instead can drive up for COVID-19 swabbing or present for pre-operative examination through the green pathway.
Simon Constable, Chief Executive said: “It is a real pleasure to see these two excellent facilities come to fruition as part of our ongoing plans to redevelop the Halton site for our patients requiring planned procedures. The Captain Sir Tom Moore building is our flagship building and was purpose-built to handle day case and inpatient surgery, supported by imaging and physiotherapy. It is thanks to this facility that we have been able to continue our urgent and cancer procedures over the last 12 months of the pandemic.
“I am especially grateful to our two breast service patients Ms Gillian Quint and Ms Lesley Jones who kindly ‘cut the ribbon’ on the new breast centre despite all they are going through at the moment. I hope that they, and the many hundreds of patients that will come through this centre this year, have the best possible outcome and experience while in our care.”
Mrs Gillian Quint, breast service user added: “For anyone that is worried about getting checked or going for treatment please don’t be. Everyone has been wonderful. I wouldn’t be here, if they hadn’t been there for me and the whole team is fabulous. I am recovering well after my surgery and I still get regular calls from the team to check on me. I am so proud to be part of today’s official opening of this amazing centre.”
Pictured outside the Captain Sir Tom Moore Building at the opening of the Breast Care Centre, Halton’s Deputy Mayor and Mayoress Councillor Mark and Mrs Andrea Dennett who cut a pink ribbon alongside current breast service patients Ms Gillian Quint and Ms Lesley Jones. They were joined by Professor Simon Constable CEO and the Trust’s Chairman Steve McGuirk CBE DL, MP for Halton, Derek Twigg and Cllr Joan Lowe.
