A CANCER sufferer from South Lakeland forced to spend up to five hours travelling for radiotherapy treatment has backed calls for a local service.

Magda Khan, 52, has added her name to a petition to bring a radiotherapy unit to Kendal’s Westmorland General Hospital, which has now been signed 2,500 people.

And this week Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has called on the government to make travel time part of the official criteria for delivering radiotherapy to make it easier for local people to access treatment.

According to the National Radiotherapy Advisory Group, travel for radiotherapy treatment must take no longer than 45 minutes.

Despite this, people living in places such as Windermere, Ambleside, and Grasmere have to travel well over an hour to receive the nearest treatment in Preston or Carlisle.

At the moment travel time isn’t part of the criteria for delivering radiotherapy services, with NHS England saying that radiotherapy providers should deal with lengthy journeys for treatment through “car parking concessions; dedicated parking spaces and well managed appointment processes”.

However, NHS England are now holding a consultation into how radiotherapy services can be improved across the country.

When Magda, 52, was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer, she at first had to travel from her home in Kirkby Lonsdale to Lancaster for chemotherapy.

She was then offered a new radiotherapy treatment in Preston, which consisted of three appointments every week for six weeks.

With no other means of getting to Preston, she relied on hospital transport to take her to and from her appointments.

“I became so tired by the third week that the driver could not wake me and had to get a nurse to ring my mobile which I kept by my bed,” she explained. “The hospital transport, while it was a gift as I didn’t drive, took me round the houses to pick up other patients and drop them off again."

Magda, who now lives in Windermere, added: “I feel that the excessive stress that this placed on my body is still with me, as fatigue can overwhelm me if I don’t manage my rest. The whole idea of ever having to do any of this again would make me think twice about undergoing the treatments I was offered.”