Plans for a new cancer-fighting centre in York are being considered by hospital chiefs.

The £1.5 million development, to be built at York District Hospital, would be a "one-stop" service for breast cancer sufferers.

A feasibility study has been set up to examine the possibility of the new development, which would complement the existing site at the hospital and the mobile units which screen 60,000 women in North Yorkshire every three years.

Sue Sims, screening services manager at the hospital, said: "The biggest problem we have here at the moment is space.

"We have excellent facilities in a welcoming environment but there isn't enough room.

"There is a need for more counselling rooms, but we have nowhere to put them."

The new unit, which would cost between £1 million and £1.5 million to build and equip, would allow breast cancer sufferers to be counselled, diagnosed and treated all within the same unit - and avoid any shunting around between consultants in different parts of the hospital.

Stewart Nicholson, a specialist in breast and endocrine surgery at the hospital, is keen to see the new facility open.

"The plan is only embryonic at this stage," he said. "But we badly need this facility.

"We have had a problem with capacity for some time, it is just hopeless at the moment, we can't move in there."

But he believes the new "integrated diagnostic" unit should be funded through the NHS.

"We should be able to raise the money without asking the public to help," he said.

Joanne Berry-Smith, a senior radiographer in the breast screening unit, says she has difficulty working with the current space constraints, which include computer equipment in the kitchen.

"The more successful we are in increasing awareness of breast cancer, the higher our workload, and the harder it is to work in this space," she said.

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