Her Majesty the Queen officially opens the Dyson Cancer Centre

The state-of-the-art facility, made possible by a £4million donation from the James Dyson Foundation, brings together many of the RUH’s cancer services under one roof for the first time, including oncology, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and a 22-bed inpatient ward. The Queen visited these different areas on her visit today.

The Foundation’s donation comes after the successful establishment of the Dyson Neonatal Centre at the RUH in 2011, a project the Foundation backed with funding, design expertise, and research. The Neonatal Centre's thoughtful design and innovative architecture were shown to enhance the wellbeing of both babies and staff. The same approach was applied in the design of the new Cancer Centre.

The Dyson Cancer Centre is the cancer services hub for more than half a million people in the Southwest, seeing around 350 patients daily. 

During the visit, the Queen toured the Medlock Day Care Unit, the William Budd inpatient ward, and the Macmillan Wellbeing Hub, which provides holistic support for patients and their families.

The Centre was designed with a ‘Land Water Sky’ theme to transform the atmosphere of a clinical setting, with lots of natural light and more than 100 local art installations to create a soothing environment, including a painting by Deirdre Dyson, called Bulrushes, that hangs in the main Atrium.

After visiting the Dyson Cancer Centre when it welcomed its first patients in April, James Dyson said, “Both of my parents died far too young from cancer, so I’ve always tried to support causes that involve treating or researching this terrible disease.

Bath and the Southwest desperately needed a new cancer hospital to serve 500,000 people and carry out cutting-edge research. Deirdre and I were pleased we could continue helping the RUH, after the success of the Dyson Centre for Neonatal Care which proved the very significant effect that design and architecture can have on the recovery of patients.

The Dyson Cancer Centre has state-of-the-art equipment, such as CT gamma scanners, which allow patients to have two specialist scans at the same time. It is home to vital research programmes in nuclear medicine and medical physics, and more than 60 live clinical trials – all under one roof.

In a way, I hope no one has to come to it. But if they do, I hope they find the Dyson Cancer Centre to be an uplifting place – one filled with light, art, space and views of nature – for patients and their families, as well as the hospital staff who care for them.”