AIREDALE Hospital has taken delivery of a second mobile cancer care unit.

It will help look after cancer patients during the coronavirus outbreak.

The new so-called ‘cancer bus’ has arrived with a nursing support vehicle from the charity, Hope for Tomorrow.

The unit was scheduled to be launched at a new health trust later this year, but has been redirected to help out at Airedale.

Between them, the two mobile units will treat at least 36 patients a day.

The existing vehicle will continue to work in the community, while the new unit will be based onsite.

Health trust bosses stress that patients visiting the unit will not need to enter the hospital building.

They will board the vehicle and then go straight home after treatment.

Pat Dyminski, lead clinical nurse specialist in haematology/oncology at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said use of the mobile units would help protect patients.

“Delivering treatments on the units is helping us to protect our patients from exposure to potential infection,” she said.

“We are taking every precaution and looking at different ways of delivering treatment to our patients to keep visits into the hospital at a minimum and reduce patients’ anxiety at this very difficult and worrying time.

“We’re using our mobile cancer care units not only to give treatments, but to help the GP surgeries and district nurses who would normally have to see our patients to take blood samples.

“The support vehicle is also being used to ensure our very elderly patients can receive their tablet medication. Patients who would normally attend the hospital we are reviewing via a telephone consultation and then they are picking-up their medication from the unit which is local to their home.”

She added: “I want to say a huge thank-you to Hope for Tomorrow for its continued support by offering us the use of the second mobile cancer care unit at this unprecedented time.

“I also want to thank my colleagues at Airedale who have helped expedite the use of this new unit.”

Hope for Tomorrow said it was delighted to assist and praised the hospital oncology team.

Nikki Budding, fundraising manager at the charity, said: “Pat and the oncology team are very proactive at engaging with us as a charity and they work their socks off.

“They wanted to make sure they could do the best for their patients during this uncertain time. They told us they were seeking a unit and we managed to turn that around really quickly.”

Each unit costs the charity £198 a day to run. To offer support, visit justgiving.com/campaign/hft-urgentappeal-covid19.