Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) yesterday announced a formal agreement with one of the leading cancer care providers in the US enabling the Island's oncology team to develop services for people in Bermuda.

Dana Farber Cancer Center is a world-renowned centre of excellence for cancer. Based in Boston and part of the Partners Healthcare System, Dana Farber is already a destination for many people in Bermuda who are undergoing cancer treatments.

This agreement will enable BHB to take advantage of the expertise a large specialist cancer centre can provide to support service development in Bermuda and improve access to care on-Island.

Chief of Staff, Dr. Donald Thomas III said: "From a clinical perspective, this agreement helps us build on a solid oncology service and collaborate with a leading cancer centre to support cancer care development in Bermuda.

"By leveraging Dana Farber's formidable recourses we can build a comprehensive cancer care service for people in Bermuda, so that we can better understand the epidemiology of different cancers in Bermuda and so improve screening, prevention, treatments and, importantly, access to care."

Having BHB work more closely with hospitals on the East Coast to improve access to and quality of care for the people of Bermuda was announced by the Premier last year.

Since then, BHB has been working with Partners Healthcare System, Lahey Hospital and Johns Hopkins to formalise relationships. This is the first of those agreements.

Premier Ewart Brown said: "I want to congratulate Minister Bascome, his team and all the healthcare professionals who worked so hard to make this a reality.

"The public should know, however, this bold move with Dana Farber is only the first brick, just the foundation. In the coming months Bermudians will have unprecedented access to a higher level of care that is not only more efficient, but less costly too.

"Having to travel abroad for specialised care is no longer the only option. I can proudly say this is another Government promise and another Government promise kept."

BHB's oncology team, which comprises a chief of oncology, two oncology nurses and an administrator, has sustained a solid cancer service on the Island for people in Bermuda over many years. The association with Dana Farber will augment this service.

Minister of Health, Nelson Bascome, said: "Today is proof that the Bermuda Hospitals Board is rising to Government's mandate that the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital be the best possible institution that we can have.

"This Government believes that Bermudians and residents of this country deserve the best. Today's announcement of the partnership with Dana Farber is a step in that direction."

Chairman of the BHB, Herman Tucker, said: "This formal agreement is a major landmark in cancer services in Bermuda. As a board, we are committed to improving Bermuda's access to high quality care.

"Our existing oncology team will continue to be the foundation of our service, but now they will be able to work in partnership with Dana Farber to utilise a depth and breadth that our side in Bermuda would prevent us from achieving alone.

"The benefit to patients is an integrated, international cancer care service, where on-Island services are strengthened and access to care is improved."

Over time, BHB's oncology team and Dana Farber will collaborate to establish different cancer programmes that will review epidemiology, screening, access to care, and pave the way for specialists to visit Bermuda from Dana Farber.

The first programmes to be established by BHB in partnership with Dana Farber will be for prostate cancer in October 2008 and breast cancer in 2009.