The North West Cancer Centre Tamworth provides treatment to residents of the New England and North West area of NSW. Patients may travel up to 4 hours to access treatment. The North West Cancer Centre is the only Radiation therapy treatment centre in the area. A purpose-built patient and care accommodation facility specifically for cancer patients is co-located with the North West Cancer Centre on the Tamworth Hospital campus. However, due to the Cancer Centre treating to full capacity across services, occupancy of Inala House is high. There is regularly no capacity to accommodate patients at Inala House who need to travel hours for their treatment. The funding provided by Dry July Foundation assists to fund overflow accommodation so that patients have no out-of-pocket accommodation expenses during their treatment.

In the 3 months January-March 2025, over 90 nights of accommodation have been provided to patients free of charge in overflow accommodation. This overcomes the financial burden for rural patients who need to travel significant distances to access cancer treatment.

Interviews with patients who have received this support has highlighted the significant positive impact it has on them that accommodation is arranged for them without charge when they need to attend the North West Cancer Centre at Tamworth. It reduces a burden, both financial and logistical.

We acknowledge the funding support provided by the Dry July Foundation which supports this program.

Thank you to Dry July participants and the Foundation for your ongoing support of this program.