Commissioning is underway at Peterborough

Tom Holland from Qados hands over a BP2 to chief physicist Andrew Pynter and his team to start the commissioning.

A new radiotherapy and oncology centre at Peterborough City Hospital, Cambridgeshire, has been delivered as part of a Managed Equipment Service (MES) by Asteral.

It is stated to be the UK’s first example of a vendor-independent radiotherapy MES and builds on Asteral’s success in providing diagnostic imaging and EBME facilities as fully managed solutions.

The MES gives Peterborough access to equipment chosen on the basis of its clinical suitability rather than ties to individual manufacturers.  In addition, the centre will provide a more convenient service to patients in the area who previously had to travel further afield.

The centre has two linacs, which are currently being commissioned using the very latest equipment from Qados/IBA Dosimetry.  The Blue Waterphantom 2 dramatically reduces commissioning times due to its high precision and speed of operation.

Once the Linacs are in clinical use, the IBA DPD-12 diode based in-vivo dosimetry system will be used to verify the dose to patients.

See the full report on page 25 of the March 2011 issue of RAD Magazine.