A campaign to raise funds to create an integrated cancer centre at Colchester General Hospital has received a £100,000 boost.

The Colchester Hospitals Charity (CoHoC) is trying to collect £4.5million in its largest ever fundraising appeal.

The opening in June last year of the £25m state-of-the-art radiotherapy was the first phase in creating the integrated centre, but the hospital also wants to house the Mary Barron Suite chemotherapy unit and the Haematology Day Unit – which treats patients with cancers including leukaemia and other disorders – in the centre.

Now the second stage is one step closer after the £100,000 grant from the Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund, one of 17 grant-making trusts set up by the Sainsbury family.

It brings the total raised so far to approximately £890,000.

Alan Rose, CoHoC chairman, said: “I was delighted to hear about the grant from The Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund, which is the largest single donation so far.

“We hope to reach £1m very soon and this grant has brought us very close to that milestone.

“The Cancer Centre Campaign is the biggest fundraising appeal ever run by the Colchester Hospital University Foundation NHS Trust’s charity CoHoC and the support of local people and organisations has been wonderful – the Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund grant has given everyone a real boost.”

The fund’s trustees have stipulated its grant is used to “provide benefit for haematology patients”.

The one central integrated cancer centre also aims to have a holistic range of therapies, information, support and advice for cancer patients and their loved ones, running alongside the more conventional medical treatments.

Currently the Mary Barron Suite and Haematology Day Unit at Colchester General Hospital are located near the Elmstead Day Unit, some distance from the radiotherapy centre.

It is hoped the cancer centre will be a centre of excellence for all residents in mid- and north east Essex and the surrounding areas once completed.

The Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund was set-up in 1984 under the will of the late James Sainsbury, and awards grants for research on leukaemia and relevant studies on related illnesses, while project grants are awarded twice yearly. The fund also awards fellowships annually, as well as considering support for capital projects that will have direct benefit to leukaemia patient care.

Find out more information about the Colchester Hospitals Charity and the cancer centre campaign online.