MOVES to create a £2.9 million radiotherapy unit in Swindon, which would end long and agonising journeys for cancer patients, have been boosted by a £25,000 donation from the Malmesbury League of Friends.

The two-year fund raising appeal was unveiled at the Great Western Hospital at the end of last month in order to bring the latest radiotherapy treatment into Swindon.

The bid by Brighter Futures – the GWH NHS Foundation Trust’s charity – aims to fund two linear accelerators, which will deliver the treatment provided by Oxford University Hospitals Trust in a new radiotherapy centre.

Cancer patients in the Malmesbury area currently have to make numerous long and arduous daily trips to Oxford for the treatment but a new facility in Swindon will slash their travelling time by well over half.

A week after the appeal was officially launched in Swindon, the Malmesbury League of Friends came forward with one of the first donations in recognition of Malmesbury patients who will benefit from the proposed new centre.

Currently, around 3,000 people are diagnosed at GWH each year with some form of cancer. In 2013/14, around 700 patients made the long round trip to Oxford for the radiotherapy treatment, which usually involves daily visits for four to seven weeks.

It is hoped that this treatment could now be available at GWH by the end of 2017.

The primary objective of League of Friends is to provide funds to help local people with specific medical needs, which are not available from other sources.

In particular, it provides badly needed equipment for use by patients in their own homes and at the Malmesbury Primary Care Centre.

Friends' chairman Robin Clark said: “We are particularly pleased to be able to support this appeal.

“We know that there are many people living in the Malmesbury area who have to travel the 110-mile round trip to Oxford, on a daily basis while undergoing radiotherapy treatment. This new facility will be a godsend for them and their carers.”

Retired RAF navigator and father-of-two Arun Desai, from Oaksey, knows just how arduous the journey is, having undergone treatment at Churchill Hospital in Oxford following a diagnosis of prostate cancer in 2001.

"The travel is purgatory with the distance and the nightmare of the traffic," he said. "You spend two and a half hours travelling for four minutes of treatment. It will be so much better for patients only having to travel 20 minutes."

Jen Green, head of fundraising at GWH NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We are truly grateful to MLOF for their very generous donation, which provides a massive boost to our fundraising campaign.”