Prince Opens ‘Cancer Centre That Will Make Real Difference’

A PIONEERING £4.6m centre for improving treatments for women with the most common type of breast cancer was opened yesterday by Prince Charles.

The Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital will focus on finding better drugs for treating hormone-sensitive breast cancer, which affects around three-quarters of the 4000 women who are diagnosed with the disease every year in Scotland.

Named after the charity of which Prince Charles, the Duke of Rothesay, is patron, the unit at Edinburgh University’s laboratories next to the hospital’s breast unit has brought together some of the best Scottish-based scientists and doctors to develop a centre of excellence for breast cancer.

Women with this type of tumour are usually treated with hormone therapies such as tamoxifen, but not everyone benefits from these treatments and many women experience drug resistance when their treatment stops working.

Prince Charles spent an hour at the research unit and breast clinic, where he met staff involved in the project.

He was given a guided tour of the facility, accompanied by its director, Professor David Harrison, and clinical head Mike Dixon.

Unveiling a plaque, he praised the dedication shown by staff and the “valuable” work they do.

He said: “This particular research unit clearly is going to make an enormous difference in terms of removing unnecessary treatment and making a real difference at the end of the day to so many patients who have to go through treatment, many of whom, as you know, suffer from side-effects in one way or another.

“I do know that this particular research will lead to something really of benefit to certain patients.”

He added: “My problem always on these occasions is there’s never enough time to be able to ask all the incredibly stupid questions I want to ask about the incredibly complex things the researchers are studying.

“But I was particularly interested in terms of the way that this unit here is complementing what is going on in London with Breakthrough’s research unit there, which I remember opening some years ago.”

His visit was part of a royal tour of Edinburgh with his wife, Camilla, who met staff and patients at the first Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centre, which is also at the Western.

While there, the duchess revealed that she had known Maggie Keswick Jencks, the renowned founder of the centres, during her heyday as a fashion designer in the 1960s.

Chief executive of Maggie’s, Laura Lee, said: “She said she remembered Maggie and her shop Annacat, which was one of the trendiest fashion houses in London. We did not know that she knew Maggie. I think it was really appropriate that her first visit to a Maggie’s Centre was to this one, which Maggie was involved in designing.”

The centres, which are the focus of a fundraising campaign by The Herald, offer support to anyone affected by cancer.

Yesterday’s visit also took the royal couple to the Dancebase National Centre in the capital where they watched a performance and met groups of professional dancers Later, the prince called for architects to put beauty at the heart of building projects to create long-lasting communities.

He shared his thoughts with an audience – including First Minister Alex Salmond – at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on how nature should play a central role.

Evoking the World Heritage status of the capital, he said: “Beauty is surely, when you think about it carefully, at the heart of genuine sustainability.

“If something is beautiful you don’t want to knock it down.”