A new £18m radiotherapy centre moved a step closer to completion with a topping out ceremony to celebrate the roof being installed.

Senior figures from Oxford University Hospitals, Great Western Hospital in Swindon fundraisers Brighter Futures, and construction company John Sisk & Son Ltd met on site to mark the structural completion of the building.

Once open, the Swindon site will save cancer patients lengthy trips to Oxford for treatment.

Chief finance officer at OUH Jason Dorsett, said: “The topping out ceremony gave us all the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the fantastic progress of the OUH Swindon Radiotherapy Centre.

“Laying the final bricks and seeing the roof in place marks another significant milestone in the development of this hugely important project that will benefit so many of our patients with cancer. I can’t wait to visit again and see the completed project.”

It is estimated the new centre will save more than 13,000 journeys to Oxford every year, alongside the anxiety, stress, and time of patients.

The radiotherapy centre is an expansion of OUH’s radiotherapy service, currently provided solely from the Churchill Hospital in Oxford.

Dr Claire Hobbs , former head of radiotherapy at OUH and representing the service, said: “I was here for the ground-breaking in October 2020, and it has been wonderful to see the centre take shape.

“More patients will agree to have treatment because for some, travelling 60 miles has meant that they’ve in the past perhaps thought ‘no, I’m not going to have that treatment’ whereas now we things they’ll be more patients agreeing to have treatments.

“They’ll be able to travel for 10 minutes, and then go home and be with their families.”

She added: “The machines are the most high-tech machines that we’ve got in our fleet, and Oxford will have machines that are a bit older than this, so Swindon will be the top centre for a little while anyway.”

He said not having all patients going into a single site will be “better for patients and for healthcare providers like us to manage services”.

GWH chief executive Kevin McNamara said: “It’s brilliant seeing the progress that’s been made in such a short space of time despite the backdrop of the pandemic.”

The OUH NHS Foundation Trust, which is overseeing the building and management, said the centre is due to complete and welcome its first patients in early 2022.

OUH invested £18.4 million in the project and the people of Swindon have donated £2.9 million towards the equipment needed to provide radiotherapy, through Brighter Futures’ Radiotherapy Appeal.