The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre (BWSCC; formerly called the Beatson Oncology Centre) is a specialised

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

care centre in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Until recently it had facilities in

Gartnavel General Hospital Gartnavel General Hospital is a teaching hospital in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland. The hospital is located next to the Great Western Road, between Hyndland, Anniesland and Kelvindale. Hyndland railway station is adjacent to the hospital. ...

, the

Western Infirmary The Western Infirmary was a teaching hospital situated in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland, that was managed by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. It was opened in 1874 and closed in 2015. History After the University of Glasgow moved from the cit ...

and

Glasgow Royal Infirmary The Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) is a large teaching hospital. With a capacity of around 1,000 beds, the hospital campus covers an area of around , and straddles the Townhead and Dennistoun districts on the north-eastern fringe of the city cen ...

. As part of the

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is an NHS board in West Central Scotland, created from the amalgamation of NHS Greater Glasgow and part of NHS Argyll and Clyde on 1 April 2006. It is the largest health board in both Scotland, and the UK, which c ...

Acute Services Review, the centre is being centralised within new facilities at the Gartnavel General Hospital site.

History

The Glasgow Cancer and Skin Institution, which had been founded at 400 St Vincent Street in 1886, acquired a house at 163 Hill Street in 1890. A ten-bed hospital was established to treat cancer patients. In 1893, Dr.

George Beatson Colonel Sir George Thomas Beatson (26 May 1848 – 16 February 1933) was a British physician. He was a pioneer in the field of oncology, developing a new treatment for breast cancer, and has been called "the father of endocrine ablation in can ...

(who as Sir George Beatson KCB, KBE later served as President of the Scottish Red Cross Society), was appointed surgeon to the hospital. The following year, the Glasgow Cancer Hospital, the first of its kind in Scotland, was established, together with an outdoor dispensary, at 22 West Graham Street. A domiciliary nursing service was set up at the same time to care for cancer patients in their own homes. In 1896 new premises, which could accommodate 30 beds, were acquired at 132 Hill Street. In the same year Beatson published his landmark paper in

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles ...

, a report of three patients with breast cancer whom he had treated by bilateral

oophorectomy Oophorectomy (; from Greek , , 'egg-bearing' and , , 'a cutting out of'), historically also called ''ovariotomy'' is the surgical removal of an ovary or ovaries. The surgery is also called ovariectomy, but this term is mostly used in reference ...

. This work forms the basis of the current anti-hormonal treatment of breast cancer and the operation is still performed today. In 1912, HRH

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, (Louisa Caroline Alberta; 18 March 1848 – 3 December 1939) was the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In her public life, she was a strong proponent of the arts and highe ...

, opened the rebuilt facilities which were named the Royal Glasgow Cancer Hospital. In the same year a research department was founded and the first director of research (Dr. Charles Walker) was appointed, making the institute one of the oldest "Comprehensive Cancer Centers" in the world. With the inception of the Scottish National Health Service (NHS) in 1948, the hospital came under control of the Western Board of Management, and was renamed the Royal Beatson Memorial Hospital in 1953. In 1967, the Research Laboratories were renamed the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, which continued to occupy the upper floors of the hospital until 1977, when they moved to a new site at Garscube Estate (renamed the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in 2013). The clinical section moved to a new centre within the Western Infirmary and was named the Beatson Oncology Centre. In 2007, the Beatson Oncology Centre, which was by that time spread over four hospitals (

and Stobhill Hospital) moved to a newly built Cancer Hospital, The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre.

Support

The BWSCC was supported by charities Friends of the Beatson and The Beatson Oncology Centre Fund. In 2014 through a restructuring, and in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the resources of both charities dedicated to supporting the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre have combined to form a unitary charity to support and serve the Beatson. The charity is named Beatson Cancer Charity.

Notable present or former physicians

Notable present or former physicians include: *Colonel Sir

, KCB, KBE, DL *Professor Sir

Kenneth Calman Sir Kenneth Charles Calman, HonFAcadMEd (born 25 December 1941) is a doctor and academic who formerly worked as a surgeon, oncologist and cancer researcher and held the position of Chief Medical Officer of Scotland, and then England. He was Wa ...

, KCB, DL, FRSE *Professor

Gordon McVie John Gordon McVie (13 January 1945 – 20 January 2021) was an international authority on the treatment and research of cancer. He wrote over 350 peer-reviewed articles, editorials and books. McVie was born in Glasgow, Scotland and died of n ...

*Professor David Kerr, CBE *Professor

Ann Barrett Ann Barrett OBE (born 27 February 1943), is Emeritus Professor of Oncology in the University of East Anglia, England, and formerly deputy dean of the School of Medicine and lead clinician for oncology at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospit ...

, OBE. *Dr

Hosney Yosef Hosney Mohammed Ahmed Ali Yosef OBE is a former radiologist, who was in 2006 made OBE in recognition of his services to medicine in western Scotland. Yosef was born in Egypt and came to Scotland in 1974 to work as a cancer specialist at Hairmyres ...

, OBE

Notable present or former scientists

Notable present or former scientists include: * Lord Fleck, KBE, FRS *Air Marshal Sir

Harold Whittingham Air Marshal Sir Harold Edward Whittingham (3 October 1887 – 16 July 1983) was a British physician notable for a distinguished medical career in the Royal Air Force and contributions to Aviation medicine. After graduating from the University ...

, KCB, KBE *Professor Allan Balmain, FRS, FRSE *Professor

Margaret Frame Margaret Frame (1903 – 1985) was a Canadian painter known for her portraiture. Biography Margaret Frame was born in 1903 in Oxford, Nova Scotia. In 1906 her family moved to Regina, Saskatchewan and there she studied with Inglis Sheldon-Wi ...

, OBE, FRSE *Professor Paul Workman, FRS *Professor

Karen Vousden Karen Heather Vousden, CBE, FRS, FRSE, FMedSci (born 19 July 1957) is a British medical researcher. She is known for her work on the tumour suppressor protein, p53, and in particular her discovery of the important regulatory role of Mdm2, an ...

, CBE, FRS,

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

References

External links