GenesisCare UK appoint Dr Peter Dickinson to lead the ELEKTA Unity MRL service in Leeds

Dr Peter Dickinson specialises in the treatment of lung cancer, and in the use of Stereotactic Radiotherapy to treat metastatic cancer. Dr Dickinson has worked at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust since 2013 and joined GenesisCare in 2023 as a Specialist Advisor to its Stereotactic Ablative Radiotherapy Clinical Reference Group. 

Speaking at ASTRO, 2025 Dr Dickinson said: “It is exciting to be adding the first Elekta Unity to our existing fleet of three MRIdian MR Linacs at GenesisCare. Having now treated over 2,500 patients with consultant led, daily adapted ablative radiotherapy I am certain that our unique experience and expertise will make this project a success.”

Until now, patients have travelled to Oxford, London and more recently Guildford to access the benefits of being treated on an MR Linac; the installation of the Unity MR Linac in Leeds is fantastic news as it will bring the benefits of this technology much closer to patients in the North of England and Scotland.

The technology provided by the MR Linac allows me to identify tumours more clearly and determine the position of the tumour and the surrounding organs in real time. As a clinician, this gives me much more confidence that treatment is being delivered accurately and safely. I am now able to offer treatment to patients where it would have been technically very difficult or high risk to treat on a conventional radiotherapy machine.”

Jakob Just-Bomholt, President and CEO of Elekta says “Elekta is proud to collaborate with GenesisCare on this groundbreaking new centre, which will deliver highly personalized treatment options for every patient. With advanced capabilities in adaptive radiation therapy, this partnership marks a significant step forward in precision cancer care.”

GenesisCare UK has built an international reputation for treating complex cancers that can move during treatment or that are surrounded by critical structures or organs that need to be protected. At GenesisCare UK, the MR Linac technology allows the team of specialist Consultant Oncologists to see the cancer, in real time, to create new radiotherapy plans, every day, and gives oncologists confidence to treat with higher doses of radiotherapy, which have been associated with improved outcomes. 

Tumours often lie close to healthy organs, and their positions change daily. Tumours and organs also move due to factors such as respiratory motion. Not only does an MR Linac provide a real time image of the tumour and organ location, but it also allows the team to manage motion, there is potential to use smaller treatment margins, and the radiotherapy plan is recalculated every day. The combination of these factors enables the MR Linac team to maximise the radiotherapy dose that can be delivered to the tumour and minimise dose to adjacent healthy tissues.

The evidence confirming the benefits of using an MR Linac continues to expand. In patients with prostate cancer the MIRAGE trail showed that those treated with stereotactic radiotherapy on the MR Linac saw a significant reduction in urinary side effects from 35.2% of patients to 19.6%, a reduction of 46% and bowel side effects went from 26% to 4% of patients, a reduction of 85%.  

In patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer, the SMART and EMERALD trials have shown that high dose MRI-guided stereotactic radiotherapy delivered in five outpatient treatment sessions, achieves very high levels of tumour control with a low rate of side effects. Many people treated at GenesisCare UK have been able to go on to have surgery for pancreatic cancer after treatment, and we have more experience treating pancreatic cancer than any other UK radiotherapy provider.

Already recognised as one of the world’s leading providers of MRI-guided radiotherapy, the fourth system in the UK network is their first ELEKTA MR Linac platform. It is understood that 127 MR Linacs are clinical across the world, and GenesisCare UK is now the world’s single largest provider of the technology.

Click here for more information about our centre in Leeds, opening 2026.