Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged more than £1 million to fight cancer in Colchester.

And the handout means the town's Essex County Hospital is among the first in Britain to share £93 million of national lottery cash.

The cash - from the new opportunities fund - will pay for a new linear accelerator, which treats tumours with radiation, and two X-ray machines for breast screening.

Prime Minister Tony Blair made the announcement to This Is Essex partner paper the Gazette yesterday. The handout was the biggest-ever investment in cancer equipment in Britain.

He told the Gazette, which is running a campaign to make Colchester a cancer treatment centre of excellence: "After years of under-investment we have a great deal of catching up to do - as we have throughout the NHS to provide modern, high quality and convenient care, and this new investment will help us take a great leap forward in cancer care in Essex.

"It's also what I believe Gazette readers want. There's long been public concern over the priorities behind the distribution of lottery good cause money," he added.

Mr Blair added spending on Health in north Essex had risen by £31 million this year - up more than six per cent on 1998.

Also benefiting from the fund is the Chelmsford and Essex Centre operated by the Mid-Essex Community and Mental Health NHS Trust, which will get a replacement breast screening trailer, plus new ultrasound and X-ray equipment for breast screening.

A spokesman for Essex Rivers Healthcare NHS Trust said the new equipment would boost cancer services in north Essex.

"Demands on cancer services are constantly rising and it's important to keep up-to-date with technology and this will help," he added.

But he refused to comment on how the cash handout would affect the current review of cancer services which could see most cancer treatment transferred to Colchester General Hospital.

Wallace Weir, general manager of the breast unit at Essex County Hospital in Colchester and the Chelmsford and Essex Hospital in Chelmsford, said: "It's excellent news for Colchester and Chelmsford breast screening services.

"The health authority has given us over a million pounds so far this year and this additional money will go a long way to providing a more efficient service, " he added.

Essex County Hospital currently has two linear accelerators - 11 and 17 years old - and a new one becomes operational next month.

There are three breast X-ray machines which are ten-years-old and based at Essex County Hospital, at Chelmsford and on the mobile screening unit.

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