Medical innovation in the UK was given a significant boost this week with the announcement that an advanced diagnostics centre is to be built in Liverpool.
Rutherford Diagnostics, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Proton Partners International, announced that the new centre will be situated in the Knowledge Quarter Liverpool within Liverpool City Council’s £1billion Paddington Village development.
The five-storey building, to be built by the council’s appointed contractor, Morgan Sindall; will be positioned opposite the Royal College of Physicians’ new Northern headquarters, ‘The Spine’, and will be directly adjacent to the Rutherford Cancer Centre North West, which will be one of a network of Rutherford centres offering high-energy proton beam therapy to cancer patients.
Mike Moran, chief executive of Proton Partners International, said: “We are delighted to bring medical innovation to Liverpool and the North West with the provision of proton beam therapy treatment, which will greatly benefit many cancer patients.
This centre aspires to be a leader in the prediction, prevention and earliest-possible detection of disease, as well as being equipped to conduct the most-complex of diagnostic tests across a wide range of conditions
“I am equally as proud to announce that Liverpool will be the site of the Rutherford Diagnostics headquarters.
“This centre aspires to be a leader in the prediction, prevention and earliest-possible detection of disease, as well as being equipped to conduct the most-complex of diagnostic tests across a wide range of conditions.
“The centre will be in a position to furnish healthcare providers with the most-advanced diagnostic data.”
Moran made the announcement at the MIPIM UK conference in London, the leading property summit for all key stakeholders in the UK.
Aidan Kehoe, chief executive of the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “It is our unique type of public-private partnership that will be critical in enabling Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter to become a centre of excellence in the provision of health and cancer care.
“Our vision has always been to develop the Liverpool Biocampus to attract pioneering academics, clinicians and businesses that will ultimately benefit the people of Liverpool through improved health outcomes and economic growth in the city.”
The core technologies Rutherford Diagnostics will provide include CT, PET-CT, MR, ultrasound, endoscopy, genomics and personalised screening.