The Southampton Hospital Charity is bidding to raise £2.2m to create the regional centre, which will treat youngsters from Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight, at Southampton General Hospital.
The appeal is named The Re
d & White Appeal in reference to red and white blood cells.
The hospital has secured £5m from the Department of Health, and this, with cash from the trust itself, will fund a new extension to the hospital to house new beds for haematology patients who need a bone marrow transplant, as well as a restructuring of the current ward area.
This new unit will offer a pioneering service for patients who undergo chemotherapy, radiotherapy and bone marrow transplants to treat cancers of the blood.
The entire project will increase capacity from 19 to 28 beds, and the provision of more single rooms with outside views.
But the extra £2.2m is needed to fund a new specially designed Day Case Unit for patients, which will be built next to the current inpatient facilities and the new extension.
Dr Kim Orchard, director of the bone marrow transplant programme, said: 'If a person is diagnosed with leukaemia they are probably going to spend the next three months in our unit undergoing treatment. The unit becomes a home to them during one of the most frightening experiences of their life, and this investment will have a huge impact on their experience.'
Details: (023) 8079 8881 or www.suht.nhs.uk/charity
The full article contains 284 words and appears in The News newspaper.
