A CANCER treatment centre could soon be opened in Stevenage, stopping Welwyn Hatfield patients the added trauma of travelling miles for treatment.

The planned new facility for radiotherapy treatment would cost between �10m and �20m to build.

And MP Stephen McPartland is throwing his weight behind a campaign to get the centre built.

It would provide 80 per cent of radiotheraphy for patients in east and north Herts.

Mr McPartland, whose Stevenage constituency includes Knebworth and Codicote, said cancer patients received a raw deal from the last Government, when the planned Hatfield super-hospital, including a cancer centre, was scrapped.

He said it was “unacceptable” cancer patients in this area currently have to travel miles to Mount Vernon Hospital, in Northwood, Middlesex – or further afield – for radiotheraphy.

He said: “It is imperative we move cancer services closer to people’s homes.

“We need to campaign hard to demonstrate there is a real need for a radiotherapy unit based at Lister, which could provide services to most patients in Hertfordshire and many in Bedfordshire.

“I am encouraging residents from across the county to help support our campaign.”

Peter Gibson, spokesman for the East and North Herts NHS Trust, said: “It would need to be a big facility as the linear accelerator is built in a bunker.

“We’d need a lot of land and a lot of funding. Currently we have neither.”