A NEW radiotherapy service funded and staffed by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is to be built in Swindon so patients no longer have to travel to Oxford for cancer treatment.

The trust has signed an agreement to build the unit at the Great Western Hospital as a satellite of the Oxford Cancer and Haematology Centre based at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford.

It follows years of campaigning and fundraising by people in Swindon to have a radiotherapy unit of their own.

The Brighter Futures appeal, launched by locals in May 2015, has so far raised £1.5m of a target £2.9m to support the creation of a new centre.

About 700 patients from Wiltshire currently make the 70-mile journey to Oxford every year for treatment and can now have the majority of their care away from the Headington hospitals.

Agreements committing to the project were signed at the end of February by OUH chief executive Bruno Holthof, chairwoman Dame Fiona Caldicott, vice chairman Geoff Salt and chief finance officer Jason Dorsett.

A report seen by the board of OUH at its meeting last month noted: “This enabling licence has been agreed between the parties to carry out enabling works on the development site.

“The enabling works means the construction of car parking with associated drainage and lighting and of a storm water outfall drain, balancing pond and headwalls.”

Timeframes and the total cost of the project are not yet known.