THE Christie charity has launched a major new fundraising appeal to raise £23 million to build a state-of-the-art cancer centre in the heart of east Cheshire.

The Christie Cancer Centre will be built in the grounds of Macclesfield District General Hospital, providing Christie cancer care closer to home for more than 1,500 new patients a year.

The centre will transform cancer care in east Cheshire, bringing together essential cancer services into one purpose-built unit, delivering local specialist access to radiotherapy, chemotherapy, holistic support and information services, outpatient care, palliative care - and for the first time, early phase clinical trials, meaning patients in East Cheshire will be among the first in the country to access new treatments as they become available.

It is expected there will be around 40,000 patient visits each year to the centre.

Work on the two-storey building is expected to start later this year, with the aim of opening during summer 2021.

While some cancer care is available in Macclesfield, many patients travel to The Christie in South Manchester for the majority of their appointments.

For those patients who live furthest away, this can mean a journey time of two hours or more, which puts a tremendous pressure on them and their families at an already stressful time.

Many patients remain under the care of The Christie for at least five years and will have regular appointments throughout that time.

On average, each new patient referred to Macclesfield will have more than 25 appointments throughout the course of their treatment.

For radiotherapy in particular, patients have to attend hospital for treatment on a daily basis for up to six weeks or longer.

Dr Andrew Sykes, consultant clinical oncologist at The Christie and the lead doctor for the project, said: “Whilst patients and families are prepared to travel to The Christie for specialist services, we also understand that many would prefer to have those services locally where possible.

“It saves valuable time and money and can make a difficult time much easier.

“The new centre in Macclesfield will provide the highest standard of cancer care for people in east Cheshire, but far closer to their homes than we have ever offered before.”

Director of fundraising at The Christie, Louise Hadley, said: “This new Christie Centre at Macclesfield is an ambitious project to transform cancer care for thousands of patients who use our services every year. To make it happen we need to raise £23 million.

“We’re planning lots of exciting fundraising events over the next 12 months and we’d love the people of East Cheshire and beyond to really get behind this fundraising campaign and get involved.”

John Wilbraham, chief executive of East Cheshire NHS Trust which operates Macclesfield Hospital, said: “I am really excited about this news and the benefit patients will get from this local service is fantastic.”

For details of how you can support the appeal go to christies.org/macclesfield