With Singleton cancer patients now travelling to Muswellbrook or Newcastle for chemotherapy treatment, the group hopes to establish a service that will allow cancer patients to receive chemotherapy treatment at Singleton Hospital.

The group has had an overwhelming response to a survey to see exactly how many people travel out of town for treatment.

Singleton Cancer Appeal member Kay Sullivan said given the response, a service was needed in Singleton.

“It’s been terrific,” Mrs Sullivan said of the response.

“Even though we haven’t had a great amount of surveys returned the response has been terrific,” she said.

“We’re are getting a lot of letters brought into us at the pharmacy but we are also getting letters from spouses of people who have died from cancer but had chemotherapy treatment at the hospital 20-plus years ago,” she said.

Mrs Sullivan said the group didn’t expect such a good or quick response from the community following an article in The Singleton Argus last month.

“We had our first response at 9.30am the next morning,” she said.

The response highlights the need for such a service in town.

Of most concern was one response in which a person opted not to have chemotherapy because of the travelling.

Survey results indicated half the cancer patients in Singleton travelled to Muswellbrook for treatment while the other half travelled to the Mater Hospital in Newcastle.

The group has the support of the Director Area Cancer Service Hunter New England Health’s senior staff specialist radiation and oncology, Colum Smith, who spoke to Mrs Sullivan yesterday and who backed the move “210 per cent”.

“Mr Smith said he couldn’t see why we couldn’t overcome obstacles we have encountered and said he would look at our objectives and how we could make them a reality,” Mrs Sullivan said.

While nothing is set in concrete, these early steps are looking positive for the group. Mrs Sullivan said support from the community had been overwhelming with locals coming forward to donate their time to help fundraise to cover any costs.

The next step will be getting specialist medical staff to support the service with two staff required to run the service.

“Not everyone will be able to have treatment at Singleton, “ Mrs Sullivan said.

“For some people it’s not an option because of the type of chemo they are having, for others they might have the first lot at the Mater Hospital but the majority will then be able to be transferred back to Singleton,” she said.