Rutherford Health, which operates a network of cancer and diagnostic centres in the UK, has gone into liquidation.

Staff at the Group’s centres were informed on Monday and arrangements are being made to transfer patients to alternative facilities.

Rutherford Health was established in 2015 and has been building a network of oncology centres. Its first centre in South Wales was the first in the UK to offer and treat with high energy proton beam therapy.

A number of factors were said to have contributed to the decision to place the group into liquidation, including the impact on patient volume as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the heavy investment made in building the Rutherford network

The group said it had made efforts to increase patient flow by offering the NHS a not-for-profit national contract in addition to existing local contracts but this was not taken up.

Sean Sullivan, chief restructuring officer and interim CEO, said:

“Covid has been particularly damaging for us as fewer patients were presenting with side effects during the lockdowns, and as a result cancer diagnosis has been delayed and sadly, in many cases, missed. This has meant fewer cancer patients have been presenting to our centres.

“Added to that, the business had grown rapidly over recent years. It was a very expensive business to set up, with over £240 million of capital expenditure to build and develop the cancer centres across the country, however, unfortunately patient numbers have not matched that.

“We made several offers to the NHS, and whilst we secured some contracts they were insufficient and we have not been able to secure mechanisms to expedite the process. This added to severe financial pressures on the business and we had no option other than to place the Group into liquidation.”

Schroder UK Public Private Trust said its holding in Rutherford was valued at £22.8m as at 31 March 2022.

Tim Creed and Roger Doig, portfolio managers of Schroder UK Public Private Trust, added:

"Over £240m was spent in developing four oncology therapy centres with a significant amount of the capital expenditure spent on the site requirements and the equipment required to offer proton beam therapy. While there is rising evidence that proton therapy is a better clinical option for many patients, it remains a service which still has very limited reimbursement in the UK."

"Building and operating four centres led to a high and unsustainable cash burn which ultimately resulted in today's announcement as Rutherford has been unable to attract sufficient new funding to continue trading."