Cancer unit plans £35m expansion

The centre should be open by 2010

A £35m expansion of Manchester's renowned Christie Hospital will make it a world leader in testing pioneering cancer treatments, bosses say.

The early trials unit is part of a new patient treatment centre planned for the Withington site, which will also include new chemotherapy services.

Health chiefs say up to 2,400 Christie patients a year will be the first benefit from the new treatments.

"It will make us a global leader in cancer research," a spokesman said.

The new development will double the number of trials undertaken at what is already one of Europe's leading clinical trials units.

Health chiefs believe the unit will lead to more effective treatments being discovered and more lives saved.

We will be able to save more lives affected by cancer than ever before Caroline Shaw, trust chief executive

Professor Malcolm Ransom, head of clinical trials at the hospital, said patients in the North West of England would be among the first in the world to access the most innovative cancer treatments.

He said this would give them "the best chances of survival".

The new centre will also allow the hospital to boost its chemotherapy treatments from 30,000 to 36,000 a year.

It will include about 70 beds, 60 treatment chairs, 10 consulting suites and two laboratories.

In November, the Christie Hospital NHS Foundation Trust announced plans for £17m radiotherapy centres in Oldham and Salford.

Caroline Shaw, chief executive, said: "Both of these developments will strengthen our position as one of Europe's leading cancer centres and provide huge benefits to our patients.

"We will be able to save more lives affected by cancer than ever before."

Construction work on the site is to start later this year and is scheduled to finish by 2010.