THE generosity of people living in Lancaster and Morecambe is set to be tapped by health bosses planning a new cancer unit in the city. Doctors at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary have plans on the drawing board for an £850,000 cancer treatment centre in the Royal Lancaster Infirmary but they need public money to help them do it. A public appeal will be launched on Thursday May 23, in conjunction with the Cancer Relief MacMillan Fund, asking people to donate cash to the unit which doctors say is desperately needed.

There is already £350,000 in the kitty for the new unit which will be created in the old casualty department at the hospital, now standing vacant due to the opening of the new Centenary building at the RLI site.

Dr David Gorst, a consultant haematologist at the RLI, explained: "Cancer treatment in the whole of the country is poor.

"In Lancaster people have access to brilliant support through Cancer Care and excellent terminal care at St John's Hospice but those needing hospital are poor relations.

"We currently have a five-bedded unit at the RLI which is cramped and unsatisfactory. More than 1,200 pateints passed through it last year.

"We hope the new unit will enable us to carry out the work we currently do but in much better circumstances.

"The MacMillan Fund has agreed to support this and have produced a brilliant design which we hope will become the Lancaster Cancer Unit.

"We have learned in the past that people in the Lancaster area are extremely generous and we are hopeful."

The appeal, which it is hoped will raise around £500,000, is part of a current campaign being run by the country's chief medical officer. He is attempting to improve services for cancer sufferers across the country and targeting sites such as the RLI.

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