STAFF and patients set off on the journey of a lifetime - if they make it that is.

Teams of doctors, nurses, managers and patients hit the road for a scrap car rally fundraiser in aid of charity.

The 'scrap to the future' race will see 15 road legal scrap cars - each with a value of under £500 - do their best to get from Southampton general hospital to Loch Lomond, with a variety of Top Gear-style challenges en route.

It's all in a bid to raise as much cash as possible for so that a revolutionary mobile radiotherapy machine can be used more.

Organised by patient support group and charity PLANETS, which fundraises for pioneering cancer services, the rally saw hospital CEO Fiona Dalton dressed up as a Frenchman with teammates medical director Derek Sandeman and finance director David French in a bid to be the first to reach Scotland.

Last year University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust become the first in the UK to introduce Mobetron, the first mobile system able to deliver radiotherapy during surgery,

Known as intra-operative electron beam radiotherapy IOERT is an intensive form of targeted radiation given at the time of surgery to treat a wide variety of advanced cancers that are difficult to remove and treat.

Using Mobetron technology, the radiation is given by high energy electron beams delivered with precision to a very specific location inside the body immediately after a cancer has been removed.

It enables surgeons and oncology specialists to deliver much higher doses of the anti-cancer treatment to areas at a high risk of recurrence without causing damage to surrounding healthy tissue and organs seen with conventional external beam radiotherapy.

After a successful first year, the PLANETS team – who have raised £750,000 for services at UHS over the past six years – are aiming to raise £25,000 from the rally to upgrade a second theatre at Southampton General Hospital to double the number of patients able to receive IOERT.

The rally will include a stop at Popham Airfield in Andover where the teams will participate in a series of driving skills tests on a timed course.

After a stop off in Leeds, the cars will travel to Loch Lomond where PLANETS will host a black tie dinner and auction before the vehicles are sent to scrap on Sunday with all proceeds going towards the charity fund's theatre upgrade appeal.

PLANETS was co-founded in 2010 by surgeon Neil Pearce alongside some of his former patients and colleagues. The fund has already secured £13,000 of its £25,000 target.

Mr Pearce, now associate medical director for patient safety at UHS, said: “When we introduced IOERT in Southampton last year it was hailed as a landmark moment for the treatment of advanced cancer in across the UK.

"We now want to extend its use into a second theatre and the amazing team of volunteers at PLANETS – many of them former patients – have organised this fantastic event which promises to be extremely fun as well as action-packed."

But there was an added bonus at the start of the race, as the 15 cars had the luxury of parking up in the hospital's brand new 800 space car park.