SPECIALIST radiotherapy for difficult-to-treat cancers will be available from early next year at a multi-million pound centre that is nearing completion in Newport.

The centre, at the city’s Celtic Springs Business Park, will become the first in the UK to offer proton beam therapy for anything other than eye cancer.

And by the time its high energy proton beam therapy service begins, other radiotherapy, chemotherapy and imaging services will have been established there.

Proton beam therapy can be used to treat difficult-to-reach cancers, including in the head, neck and spine by targeting very specific areas.

The centre is the first of three being developed in England and Wales by Wales-based Proton Partners International - the others will be in Northumberland and Berkshire.

The Newport centre will also, from the second half of this year, offer PET (positron emission tomography)-CT scans, a combination of scans to build detailed internal images and highlight potential areas of concern.

The company has revealed that the centres - the result of tens of millions of pounds of investment - will be known as Rutherford Cancer Centres, so named to reflect Nobel prize-winning scientist Ernest Rutherford’s contribution in identifying and naming the proton, more than 100 years ago.

“Proton Partners International is committed to transforming cancer care in the UK,” said Professor Gordon McVie, chairman of Proton Partners International.

“The Rutherford name is synonymous with a major breakthrough in cancer treatment and therefore we felt this was a fitting identity for our centres.

“With cancer on the rise, there is a growing need for patients to be offered a holistic and sophisticated level of cancer care.

“Patients at the Rutherford Cancer Centres will have access to a wide range of cancer services, and a treatment plan will be implemented on an individual basis.”

Treatment will be available to medically-insured private patients, self-paying patients, and those referred by the NHS.

Chief executive Mike Moran said the centres will be equipped with the latest technology and will have the capacity to treat hundreds of patients a year.

“We will also network our centres to ensure the data they will provide can play a significant role in cancer research,” he said.