Planning permission has been granted for a new £5 million cancer support centre to go on the site of the old Royal Liverpool University Hospital.
The new Maggie’s centre will be located at the junction of Daulby Street and Prescot Street, close to the new Royal Liverpool University Hospital, and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool.
The Maggie's centre is the first project to be approved for development on the site of the old Royal, with future development opportunities on the healthcare campus currently being explored by NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group.
The Steve Morgan Foundation has worked with HB Architects to design the centre, which will provide free practical, psychological and emotional support for people with cancer, as well as their family and friends, from across the whole of Merseyside.
This will be the second Maggie’s centre in Merseyside. Maggie’s Wirral also funded by the Steve Morgan Foundation opened in 2021. Maggie’s Liverpool is expected to open in 2027.
The centre will support people like 39-year-old Chris, who is living with incurable cancer and visits Maggie’s Wirral with his wife Rachael.
Chris said: “I lost so much, it has all been taken away from me. Maggie’s made me feel warm and accepted. I was listened to. I have done some courses where for that hour I forgot everything, an hour of normality.”
Rachael added: “I had been told to go to Maggie’s for information, but they gave us so much more. I left Maggie’s for the first time feeling strange, I felt like I couldn’t wait to come back to Maggie’s with Chris. I always hear laughter from the room where Chris is in at Maggie’s, and it warms my heart to and that’s thanks to Maggie’s.”
Out of the 2.8 million people in Cheshire and Merseyside about 17,000 people are newly diagnosed with cancer every year– both figures are higher than the England average.
James Sumner, Chief Executive of NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, said: “As part of the old Royal Liverpool University Hospital demolition process, we have been working closely with partners to develop a masterplan that will have the health and wellbeing of our patients and local communities at its heart.
“We are delighted to be welcoming Maggie’s as the first new partner onto the site of the old Royal. The services they offer to support people with cancer will be hugely beneficial to the people of Liverpool.”
Dame Laura Lee, Chief Executive of Maggie’s said: “We are delighted to have been granted planning permission for our centre in Liverpool.
“The Steve Morgan Foundation’s incredibly generous support in commissioning, designing, funding and building has fast tracked our ability to bring Maggie’s to Liverpool and for that I am so grateful.
“I am greatly looking forward to working closely once again with the Steve Morgan Foundation, and NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, to ensure the people of Merseyside living with cancer have the support they need at what is possibly the hardest time of their lives.”
Steve Morgan, founder of the Steve Morgan Foundation, said: “We are delighted to have received planning approval for our third Maggie’s centre in the region, helping to bring vital cancer support to the people of Liverpool and ensuring they have easy access to the warm, welcoming and free expert support that a Maggie’s centre provides.
“Our partnership with Maggie’s highlights the power of collaboration and the Foundation’s ability to ‘give’ well by harnessing our expertise, practical support and commercial experience to maximise the impact of our financial support.”
To find out how to support Maggie’s in Liverpool, please visit maggies.org.