Lanarkshire Gets Maggie’s Centre

A new Maggie’s Centre for cancer patients and their relatives is to open in Lanarkshire. The interim facility will be based at Wishaw General Hospital until a dedicated service at Monklands Hospital is built.

Fundraising efforts across the country helped to pay for the centre, which will provide free emotional advice and support to people affected by cancer.

It will be the sixth Maggie’s Centre in Scotland.

The centre will be temporarily housed in a former doctors’ residence at the Wishaw General.

A permanent centre is to be located at Monklands when NHS Lanarkshire moves its cancer treatment to the hospital.

‘Beyond the disease’

Lorrie Forsyth, head of Maggie’s Lanarkshire, praised those who helped to raise money for the centre.

She said: “People across the country fundraised very hard to make Maggie’s Lanarkshire a reality.

“The interim facility will make a huge difference to people across the region affected by cancer by helping to equip them with the tools to build a life beyond the disease.”

There are currently five Maggie’s centres in Scotland – in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Highlands and Fife.

A Maggie’s Centre is also due to open in London in April this year.

It will be the first of a network of six centres scheduled to be built across England and Wales by 2012.