A STATE-of-the-art breast unit is set to open its doors to patients next week. On Monday September 4, the doors to the QEII hospital s Vicki Adkins Breast Unit will be opened to its first patients. The opening marks the completion of one of the largest N

A STATE-of-the-art breast unit is set to open its doors to patients next week.

On Monday September 4, the doors to the QEII hospital's Vicki Adkins Breast Unit will be opened to its first patients.

The opening marks the completion of one of the largest NHS and charity collaboration projects in the East and North Herts NHS Trust's history.

With joint investment from the NHS and the Hertfordshire Breast Unit Appeal, the £2.4m scheme to provide a dedicated diagnostic and outpatient services for breast disease patients has resulted in a better environment and some of the best equipment for detecting breast disease in the country.

Over the last eight years, Vicki Adkins, who founded the Hertfordshire Breast Unit Appeal, and her dedicated fundraisers have raised nearly £1 million.

She said: "At last my dream for the future men and women of Hertfordshire has come true. I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the planning of this unit in the NHS.

"The breast care team the Trust has in the new unit will provide a service that will be the envy of many people in the country."

New state-of-the-art digital mammography, ultrasound and biopsy equipment will help to improve both the detection of breast diseases and the speed of diagnosis."

A Trust spokesman said: "Nine out of every 10 patients attending a breast clinic do not have breast cancer.

"However, most of them think they do and cannot be reassured until the complex diagnostic process is complete.

"Until now the expertise drawn from outpatient, radiology and pathology departments to make a diagnosis has been spread across a large general hospital. The Vicki Adkins Breast Unit brings everything together under one roof."

Specialist treatment of breast cancer will continue as before with surgery at QEII and Lister hospitals, radiotherapy at Mount Vernon and in London and chemotherapy at the Forster Suite at the Lister hospital.