MP visits cancer unit in Preston as part of campaign to bring radiotherapy to the South Lakes

Local MP Tim Farron visited the Rosemere Cancer Centre in Preston as part of his long-running campaign to bring a radiotherapy unit to Westmorland General Hospital.

The centre, which is a good hour's drive away for most people in South Cumbria, is currently the area's nearest radiotherapy unit.

Tim spoke with clinicians at the unit about the steps that would be needed for a satellite unit of the Rosemere in Kendal.

Earlier this week Tim was elected chair of a new parliamentary cross-party group on radiotherapy, with one of its key aims to improve access to treatment.

Tim said: "When speaking to patients from the South Lakes who travel there I'm always told that the Rosemere unit is excellent and that the staff are absolutely brilliant, and my visit today confirmed that.

"The problem is that it's just such a long way away for people who are already very ill to have to travel there for weeks on end to receive life-saving care.

"A radiotherapy unit at Westmorland General would make lives so much better for hundreds of local people with cancer and for their families."