PLANS for a £14million cancer centre have been given the go-ahead.

Spire Healthcare, a private hospital group, has been given permission to build the twostorey centre next to Baddow Hospital, at the Essex Healthcare Park, in Great Baddow.

Work on the centre will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

The plans include a radiotherapy facility, which will house two of the latest linear accelerators, a wide-bore CT scanner, consultant offices and consulting rooms and an eightbay chemotherapy suite.

The centre will treat a broad range of cancers, including breast, prostate and lung cancers, and will offer integrated care for patients from diagnosis right through to recovery.

Radiotherapy is a highly effective way of treating cancer, yet, according to Spire Healthcare, remains undersupplied in the NHS, with just 4.1 linear accelerators per 100,000 of population – a figure some way below the rest of the major European countries.

The development means a significant increase to the country’s private provision of linear accelerators – especially outside London, which currently stands at only 20 machines nationwide.

Neil McCullough, Spire’s group development director, said: “For many cancer sufferers, the opportunity to have care from diagnosis right through to recovery from the same provider is incredibly important.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring this service to a new region.”

The Weekly News recently revealed that Ramsay Health Care UK has also submitted a planning application for a cancer unit at its Springfield Hospital site in Lawn Lane, but a decision has not yet been made.