Householders in north Norfolk are being asked to contribute towards the cost of the region's new Macmillan Centre.

Eastern Daily Press: The £4.15m North Norfolk Macmillan Centre will be built at Cromer Hospital on the site of the former Davison Unit. Photo: LSI ArchitectsThe £4.15m North Norfolk Macmillan Centre will be built at Cromer Hospital on the site of the former Davison Unit. Photo: LSI Architects (Image: Archant)

A fundraising drive to raise £350,000 for specialist equipment and furniture at the centre is being spearheaded by the Cromer Community and Hospital Friends (CCAHF).

And householders in north Norfolk have been receiving leaflets in the post from the charity asking for donations.

The £4.15m state-of-the-art cancer care and support centre will open in March 2021 at Cromer and District Hospital.

At present, people living in north Norfolk, who are suspected of having cancer, go to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) for diagnosis and treatment.

Eastern Daily Press: The £4.15m North Norfolk Macmillan Centre will be built at Cromer Hospital on the site of the former Davison Unit. Photo: LSI ArchitectsThe £4.15m North Norfolk Macmillan Centre will be built at Cromer Hospital on the site of the former Davison Unit. Photo: LSI Architects (Image: Archant)

While the cost is being shared by Macmillan Cancer Support, the Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals Charities, and the NNUH Trust Funds, further funding is needed to buy the equipment and furniture costing £500,000.

A spokesman for CCAHF said: 'It will be a centre of excellence for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer for all north Norfolk, and it will avoid very lengthy travel and delays for patients.

'The wonderful generosity of the public over the past year by fundraising and bequests has resulted in raising £150,000 towards the target.

'However, that leaves about £350,000 still to raise in the next 12 months - a very ambitious figure for a small charity.

Eastern Daily Press: The £4.15m North Norfolk Macmillan Centre will be built at Cromer Hospital on the site of the former Davison Unit. Photo: LSI ArchitectsThe £4.15m North Norfolk Macmillan Centre will be built at Cromer Hospital on the site of the former Davison Unit. Photo: LSI Architects (Image: Archant)

'We are certain that, with your enthusiastic assistance, we can work together and make this goal a reality.'

The new centre will include six chemotherapy treatment chairs with capacity to treat up to 36 patients a day.

It will have three new clinic rooms and two new minor procedure rooms, creating an additional 10,000 outpatient appointments annually.

The new unit will also free up space in the main hospital building to deliver an extra 600 surgical procedures in dermatology, urology, vascular surgery and pain management.

Eastern Daily Press: The £4.15m North Norfolk Macmillan Centre will be built at Cromer Hospital on the site of the former Davison Unit. Photo: LSI ArchitectsThe £4.15m North Norfolk Macmillan Centre will be built at Cromer Hospital on the site of the former Davison Unit. Photo: LSI Architects (Image: Archant)

Preliminary works at the new centre, involving the refurbishment and extension of the hospital's disused Davison Unit, started last year.

As reported, farmer Douglas de Bootman left more than £1m in his will towards the cost of the new centre.

For more information about the 2020 Cancer Unit appeal visit https://cromercommunityhospitalfriends.co.uk/