Ambitious plans for the future include a 4th generation cryosurgery machine and a new academic and research facility
Our fund raising achievements of the last 6 years have spurred us on to even greater ambitions! Top of our buying list is a new cryosurgery unit. The existing unit is gradually being overtaken by new technology offering much greater advantages to patients. The new machine will cut operating times in half, minimise side effects, reduce hospital stays to 'day care procedures' and enable a wider range of Urologists to use it. At £140,000 it is expensive and a major fund raising effort will be needed to purchase it.
Also in the Project plans are a new ultrasonic probe for Frimley Park, a rapid while-you-wait PSA testing unit for Guildford, currently being evaluated in Sheffield, and accessories to further improve the efficiency of the cryosurgery equipment. We have made provision to continue and, if necessary, enhance our support for specialist nursing, staff both at the Royal Surrey and at Frimley Park. We also plan to extend the same level of patient support available in the Frimley area to Guildford.
Even though clear objectives like these have been identified in the plan, it is our intention that The Project should retain flexibility in order to be responsive to any unexpected needs that our Consultant Urologists identify.
The Project's research programme, started last October, is well under way. The research is currently being carried out by a postgraduate research fellow, Shwan Ahmed, under the guidance of the Head of the Post Graduate Medical School, Professor Richard Farmer. Shwan's first study is to assess the health-related quality of life on patients and their partners following cryotherapy using a set of validated questionnaires. The impact of quality of life is an important issue when deciding the treatment mode for for early prostate cancer. The second project is to further explore the basic science of the cryosurgery technique and the last study will assess the effect of cryosurgery on the patient's immune system. There is some evidence that cryosurgery may stimulate systemic immunity against cancer cells.
Longer term, The Project is giving serious thought to supporting the establishment of a Department of Urology at the new Post- Graduate Medical School attached to the University of Surrey. This department would specialise in prostate cancer. It would strongly reinforce the Prostate Project's original objective of helping the Royal Surrey and now the Frimley Park Hospital become a national centre of expertise for the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
Providing support and funding for a new academic and research facility would be a step change in the activity of The Prostate Project and represent a major challenge. However, based on our past performance, which has surpassed all its objectives, we believe such a challenge is attainable. Not withstanding these ambitious plans for the future, our core objectives will remain unchanged. We will continue to focus our effort on promoting awareness, providing patient support and funding hospital staff and equipment.
We look forward to another six years as successful as the last.