Extra 78 beds at cancer unit

An extra 78 beds are to be created at the £17.13 million cancer centre due to open in 2010.

Regional health bosses have approved the move which will provide accommodation for non-cancer patients in the three-storey building.

Bosses at the Christie Hospital, Manchester, are to build a radiotherapy unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital which will open in two years’ time.

It will mean that 70 cancer patients each day from the north-east of Greater Manchester will not have to travel to Withington.

The extra beds will be used for general medical patients and the scheme will cost £33.53 million.

Tom Wilders, executive director of strategic planning at Pennine Acute Trust, which also runs hospitals in Bury and Rochdale, said: “This is excellent news for people across the north-east of Greater Manchester.

“The Christie Hospital’s plan for a radiotherapy unit at the Royal Oldham Hospital has provided us with a tremendous opportunity to use the same building infrastructure to expand clinical accommodation on the site in a cost-effective way.”

The announcement comes a day after plans for a £10 million health centre in Royton were unveiled.

Delighted Milnrow & Newhey MP Phil Woolas said: “Not only is this great news for the NHS, patients and their families, it is also good news for the construction industry which will benefit from the £40 million investment in new health facilities in our borough.”