Keys delivered for new £5m cancer centre

Staff will be spending the Easter weekend getting the state-of-the-art building ready for the first patients to arrive for treatment on Tuesday after phase one of the project was completed.

The centre will see cancer services concentrated in one building, cutting the number of patient transfers.

It has been funded by charities with Lingen Davies fundraising £3.2m, while Shropshire Blood Trust Fund provided more than £1m, with other funds coming from the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital’s League of Friends which donated £300,000.

Sarah Faulkner, oncology and haematology centre manager, said: “All the staff are looking forward to getting settled in the new building and we know it is going to make such a big difference to our patients.

“We now have surroundings which will allow them to receive their treatment in a private and comfortable environment.

“Having our cancer services concentrated within one building is going to reduce the need for patients to be transferred to different areas of the hospital.”

Work on phase two, which will see work on a new reception entrance and refurbishment of the existing outpatient area will begin immediately and should be completed in August.