A STATE-of-the-art cancer support centre has opened in Southampton.

Run by Wessex Cancer Trust the new centre, in Cranbury Terrace, will support more than 2,000 cancer patients and their loved ones every year.

The centre has two therapy rooms, a counselling room and a large ‘befriending’ area, where people will be offered emotional, physical and financial support by a specialist team of therapists and councillors as well as volunteer ‘befrienders’.

The charity offers people across the south a variety of support services and support to help those affected by cancer recover.

Wessex Cancer Trust chief executive Sally Hall said: “Many people are directly and indirectly affected by cancer and our new centre is designed to provide a range of services for these people in the city and the surrounding areas with the necessary support in a comfortable and welcoming environment away from hospital.

“We have found from the support we offer both to people living with and people affected by cancer that the days once treatment is over can often be some of the longest and hardest.

“Continuity of care from both a clinical and psychological perspective is paramount to the future health of each patient, whether that be through having a friendly face to share their troubles with or a wider pool of complementary therapies to choose from.”

Prospective Labour parliamentary candidate for Southampton Itchen Rowenna Davis cut the ribbon to open the centre.

She said: “It’s a real honour to be opening our city’s new cancer support centre.

“I’m incredibly proud that thousands of people will walk through these doors and receive emotional, physical and financial support to help them live well with cancer.

“Too many people in Southampton and beyond are affected by cancer and it’s a devastating truth that almost all of us know someone who is suffering.

“I’m so pleased that this new centre will be a place where people can get help with that journey and let’s pay full tribute to the fleet of volunteers as well as the staff who make it happen.”

It costs £60,000 a year to keep the charity’s centres across Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands running. To do this Wessex Cancer Trust relies on the work of fundraising groups and donations from the public.

For more information about Wessex Cancer Trust and the services it offers, or to donate, visit wessexcancer.org.uk.