A MAJOR fundraising appeal is under way to provide a pioneering cancer day care centre in East Yorkshire.

Macmillan Cancer Relief hopes to raise £1 million to provide a palliative care unit to serve Market Weighton and its surrounding rural areas.

The unit, which will be attached to the Market Weighton Surgery, will be the first of its kind in the country, as other palliative day care units are attached to hospitals or hospices.

Dr Simon Wilkinson, said the surgery, Macmillan Cancer Relief, and the Yorkshire Wolds and Coast Primary Care Trust (PCT), had found a void in respite facilities for people with life-limiting illnesses in East Yorkshire.

He said: "People have to travel between 15 and 20 miles for palliative care, to York or to Hull, which is too far for people who are feeling very ill.

"We want to bring the services to the people who need it. The unit will provide a comfortable environment for people who might not otherwise have been able to leave their homes at all to get out, have a meal, or meet people for a day at a time. They can have a nice day out and take their minds off what they've got."

Although it will be entirely funded by Macmillan Cancer Relief, the unit will be staffed by the PCT.

Patients will be offered services such as quiet rooms, aromatherapy and assisted bathing and hairdressing.

The centre is the flagship scheme of the fundraising appeal, along with other services to help people with cancer in East Yorkshire.

Pocklington District Lions fundraiser Neville Payne is training to run the London Marathon to support the appeal.

To sponsor him, send a postal donation to Pocklington District Lions, c/o 53 Mile End Park, Pocklington, York, YO42 2TH or view www.justgiving.com/nevillepayne

Updated: 09:25 Saturday, March 20, 2004