The Cancer Council has written to the Prime Minister seeking federal support to build a $60 million cancer treatment centre at Bowden in Adelaide’s inner north-western suburbs, to help meet a projected accommodation shortage for cancer patients travelling from regional areas for care.
The Cancer Council hopes to build a centre with 180 rooms, and space for its prevention and support services such as the cancer information hotline and Quitline.
South Australian state and federal MPs signed the letter which was sent to the Prime Minister on Friday, asking for at least $20 million in federal support.
Cancer Council SA chief executive Lincoln Size said there was an urgency to the request because current infrastructure was expected to prove inadequate within another five years.
Mr Size said there were currently 121 city beds available for regional cancer patients needing treatment in Adelaide and the council provided about 33,000 nights of accommodation for patients last year.
“Our projections show that with the increase in incidence of cancer and the demand for cancer treatment, that capacity will be outstripped by about 2020, so the service that we offer at the moment won’t be sufficient to meet demand,” he said.
Mr Size said Bowden would provide an ideal site for new facilities.
“It’s close to the [new] Royal Adelaide Hospital as well as … major transport, such as the tram and the railway line,” he said.
Mr Size said it was also beneficial to have facilities near an entertainment precinct because it was diversional therapy for people while getting treatment in Adelaide.
“[It means] they’re not actually just stuck in their room when they’re receiving treatment, but they can get out,” he said.
Mr Size said South Australia was the only state not to have received federal backing for such a cancer support facility.
“We’d like to think that the Prime Minister will see this as a viable proposition for the state, both an economic boost for the state as well as providing a good treatment centre for those people with cancer in SA that need to travel to the city,” he said.