New Leicester medical hub honours Next's George Davies

George Davies also created George at Asda and Per Una for Marks & Spencer

A new £42m "cutting-edge" medical hub has been officially named in honour of the founder of Next.

Sir David Attenborough opened the George Davies Centre at the University of Leicester.

The Leicester-based fashion entrepreneur donated more than £5m towards research into vascular disease and to prevent limb amputations.

The NHS trust said it aimed to provide a "centre of excellence" for vascular services in England.

Leicester's Hospitals said it aims to provide a "centre of excellence" for vascular services in England

Entrepreneur George Davis made the multi-million pound donation towards the Vascular Limb Salvage Clinic (VaLS) at Glenfield Hospital, which is run by the university.

The 76-year-old said it was "important" to him to support the project aiming to save limbs and lives in Leicester and beyond.

The university said the donation was its largest-ever philanthropic gift from an individual.

Professor Rob Sayers, a surgeon at the hospital, said: "We will be able to run a research programme to identify ways to treat people faster and better and thus prevent amputation."

Sir David Attenborough opened The George Davies Centre at the University of Leicester

The university said it was "fitting" to name the centre to honour the fashion retailer after his donation to VaLS.

Professor Philip Baker, head of the College of Life Sciences, said: "The centre will become a central hub speeding the translation of research to real world improvements for patient treatment."

It was officially opened by Sir Attenborough and his nephew Michael Attenborough, who are co-patrons of the University of Leicester's Centenary.

About Peripheral Vascular Disease

• PVD usually affects the legs and is cause by blocked arteries usually from smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure or raised cholesterol.

• Initial symptoms are leg pain on walking and it affects 500,000 people in the UK.

• Poor leg circulation is the third major cause of vascular morbidity in the UK.

• Patients with PVD are at higher risk of death from heart attack and stroke.

• In the UK there are about 3,000 major leg amputations a year.