A brief history of the Rutherford Cancer Centre North East, and why it is currently not in use.
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00:00 Why is there a state-of-the-art cancer treatment centre in Bedlington that's just sitting
00:04 empty?
00:05 Well, it used to be run by a company called Rutherford Health, which offered a number
00:09 of cancer treatments, including the state-of-the-art proton beam therapy.
00:12 However, the company went into liquidation in June 2022.
00:16 The former medical director of the company has been campaigning for the centre to reopen.
00:20 He's written to the government and the current owner of the centre, as well as launching
00:24 a petition which garnered over 14,000 signatures.
00:27 However, the NHS says that the centre is not meeting current standards for proton beam
00:33 therapy, despite it having treated NHS patients in the past, and also says there's no waiting
00:39 list justification for that kind of therapy to warrant reopening the centre.