New cancer care centres set to be built

Two new cancer care centres are to be built at hospitals in the West Midlands, providing extra support to thousands of families and patients.

The centres, run by national charity Maggie's, will open in Coventry and Birmingham within the next two years, and it said they would offer practical and emotional support.

Maggie's currently operates27 of the centres across the UK, but the nearest for people in the West Midlands is currently in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

Dame Laura Lee DBE, its chief executive said: "It doesn't make the cancer go away, but I think what we hope we can do at Maggie's and we've seen this time and time again... what it can do is it can give people some comfort."

She added that staff also sought to help people understand what they were going through so they could feel "more in control" and "less alone".

The first site is due to open in the grounds of University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire in 2027.

A second centre is expected to open in 2028, at a disused IT building in between the University of Birmingham and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, following an undisclosed donation from the Sir Peter Rigby Charitable Trust.

It is estimated that each of the new centres will receive about 20,000 visitors a year.

"I believe that I'm doing some good, that I'm supporting an organisation that I admire," Sir Peter told the BBC.

"Cancer is such an issue in our lives today, one in two people will be affected by cancer and the incidents of cancer in the West Midlands is higher than the average.

"So there's a massive need for what we're doing, it cannot be denied."

The centre in Cheltenham was used by father-of-three Aindi Cronin, who was diagnosed with cancer in January 2021 and died the following year.

His wife, Jenny Cronin, from Solihull, said the site "felt so far away" but it had helped them both feel "understood, cared for and listened to".

"I just always remember him saying that as soon as he walked in to this building, he felt like a weight had been lifted off him, he felt better just being here," she said of her husband.

"When Aindi was still with us, it was something we talked about - you know we would love to have a centre in Birmingham where he was treated, or a centre much closer to home.

"And actually, it's something we've been really hoping for ever since he passed away."

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