A CANCER charity hopes to open four new centres in the next 18 months following its recently opened state-of-the-art facility in Southampton.

Wessex Cancer Trust, which also has support centres in Winchester, Hythe and the Isle of Wight, aims to expand into Cosham, Salisbury, Chandler’s Ford and Bournemouth.

The charity hopes that buy refurbishing existing premises, rather than buying news one of upwards of £1.5 million, the groups can save hundreds of thousands of pounds which can be better used in patient treatment.

Chairman at Wessex Cancer Trust, Norman Wood, said: “We are passionate about providing free support for everyone affected by any type of cancer and we rely heavily on the generous funding we receive to run support centres that focus entirely on the need of the individual or family.

“To enable us to provide as much support possible we have a growth strategy that involves renting appropriate buildings rather than purchasing fewer buildings after a lengthy capital appeal. We believe that this approach will allow us to provide support to many more people across a much broader geographical area. We welcome around 8,000 visitors a year across our four existing centres in the region.

“With the four new centres planned to open in the next year or so we will be able to double the support to over 15,000 people by 2016. Knowing how we use the public donations and that our focus is to ensure that donations are immediately spent on our cancer services it is a matter for individuals and organisations to decide where best to place their money.”