It looks like a building site – which is exactly what it is. But this time next year a modern cancer care unit will replace the rocks and rubble outside the Robert Browning day ward at Medway Maritime Hospital.

Back in April the site was green lawn, until former Mayor Cllr Val Goulden inserted a spade to turn the first sod of what will be the Macmillan Cancer Care Unit.

It is expected up to 1,500 patients a year will be treated at the unit, saving them journeys to London or across to Maidstone.

Costing £3 million, the new building will house a chemotherapy unit, a haemotology ward, an information area, a quiet area for counselling and family discussions, and a garden.

There will also be facilities for patients’ relatives to stay overnight.

Sue Barrow, of Macmillan South East, said: “We’ll be creating a bright, comfortable and welcoming environment for people living with cancer.”