NHS England’s Medical Director, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, has welcomed the announcement of the equipment and building suppliers which will start work on the UK’s first proton beam therapy cancer centres this summer.

The Government is investing £250 million in the building of the two specialist centres at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, which will provide highly targeted radiotherapy for patients with hard to reach cancers from 2018.

He said: “Today’s announcement will help us to move ahead with fully equipping the new facilities in Manchester and London. This is a key milestone in being able to offer this important treatment in the UK.”

UK patients requiring proton beam therapy are currently sent abroad for treatment, to specialist centres in the United States, as part of NHS England’s overseas programme.