Patients are travelling from across the North West, and from further afield, to reach Clatterbridge Private Clinic, where lung cancer treatments that are not yet routinely available on the NHS are part of everyday practice.
The clinic, which operates from sites in Liverpool and on the Wirral, works alongside Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and has built a reputation for moving newly published research into the clinic quickly, particularly for lung, prostate, breast and haematological cancers.
Much of that momentum in lung cancer is being driven by Dr Carles Escriu, a thoracic medical oncology consultant and senior clinical lecturer who has co-authored international studies on treating the disease before surgery rather than after.
His work on the neoadjuvant approach, giving chemotherapy and immunotherapy together before an operation, has shown that recurrence rates at three years fall from around 55 per cent on chemotherapy alone to roughly 35 per cent when immunotherapy is added. Local data from Liverpool, co-published with other European centres, mirrors those results.
Dr Escriu also co-authored the international NeoADAURA study, which found that nine weeks of targeted tablet therapies such as Osimertinib, given before surgery, led to significantly higher complete response rates in patients with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer. The findings are explained in detail in his article on when lung cancer can be cured.
The clinic was also among the first in the UK to treat a patient with Tarlatamab, a new bi-specific immunotherapy for small-cell lung cancer led by consultant clinical oncologist Dr Niladri Ghosal. Approved by the MHRA but not currently funded on the NHS, the drug has shown a median overall survival of 13.6 months in the DeLLphi-304 study, compared with 8.3 months on standard chemotherapy.
It is partly this combination of new drugs and earlier intervention that draws patients in from outside the immediate area. Treatments that are either unavailable or slow to reach approval elsewhere in the country are accessible here through a private care pathway, with the clinic's patient liaison team coordinating travel, appointments and a concierge service for those arriving from out of region.
The Liverpool site is the city's first dedicated cancer hospital, sharing a campus with the new Royal Liverpool Hospital and the University of Liverpool. The Wirral clinic offers outpatient chemotherapy, radiotherapy, diagnostics and cancer support services for local patients.
Both sites have been designed to feel less like a traditional hospital and more like a calm, modern consulting space. Private treatment pods come with ergonomic seating, panoramic city views, Alexa devices and freshly prepared meals, all part of a deliberate effort to take some of the edge off what can be a frightening experience.
Behind the clinical work sits a model that quietly funds the wider health service. The profits are reinvested into the NHS, supporting services at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. More on that arrangement is set out on the about us page.
Alongside the treatment side, the clinic has launched Cancer Talks, a podcast hosted by consultant oncologist Dr Manal Alameddine that brings specialists, healthcare professionals and patients together for plain-spoken conversations about cancer care.
The first episode features Dr Ian Lampkin on prostate cancer. The second sees Dr Escriu join Dr Alameddine to talk through the latest in lung cancer, including the questions patients most often ask but rarely get time to put to a consultant.
For a region that has long been associated with cancer expertise through the Clatterbridge name, the private clinic has become a quietly significant addition, widening access to treatments that for many patients would otherwise mean a much longer journey, or none at all.
More information about consultants, treatments and the two clinic sites is available on the Clatterbridge Private Clinic website.
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