Plan for £5m cancer support centre revealed

An artist's impression of how the new cancer centre will look

Plans for a £5m cancer support centre set to be built on the site of the old Royal Liverpool University Hospital have been revealed.

The centre will provide free practical, psychological and emotional support for people with cancer, as well as their families and friends from across Merseyside.

Run by charity Maggie's and funded by the Steve Morgan Foundation, the centre is the first development to be approved on the hospital's former site.

Dame Laura Lee, chief executive of Maggie's, said the centre would "ensure the people of Merseyside living with cancer have the support they need at what is possibly the hardest time of their lives".

Maggie's has offered support to people with cancer for more than 30 years in centres across the UK, where staff provide services to help people with stress, fear and anxiety as well as money worries and questions about treatment.

The Liverpool centre will be located at the junction of Daulby Street and Prescot Street and is due to open in 2027.

It will be the second on Merseyside after Maggie's Wirral opened in 2021.

Steve Morgan, founder of the Steve Morgan Foundation, said the centre would help "bring vital cancer support to the people of Liverpool" and ensure they had easy access to "the warm, welcoming and free expert support that a Maggie's centre provides".

James Sumner, chief executive of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, said: "We are delighted to be welcoming Maggie's as the first new partner onto the site of the old Royal.

"The services they offer to support people with cancer will be hugely beneficial to the people of Liverpool."