A pioneering drop-in cancer clinic which has treated thousands of patients free is closing after almost 21 years.

Staff were in tears when Dr Jan de Winter broke the news that the trustees of the charity, which oversees the Dr Jan de Winter Clinic in New Road, Brighton, had decided to close the centre on December 31.

Trustees concluded the clinic could not continue after a £50,000 shortfall in donations this year.

They hoped the clinic, which employs 11 salaried staff, would be saved by a donation from the National Lottery but the organisation was refused help.

The charity, which has the Duchess of Kent as its patron, was set up in 1981, by Dr de Winter, who had been a cancer specialist at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton for more than 30 years.

After his retirement, it was Dr de Winter's dream to offer a centre where people could walk in off the street and receive advice and treatments for free as well as screenings and health checks for a small fee in an effort to prevent cancer.

Dr de Winter, 87, went to the clinic himself to tell staff the news. He told our reporter: "They were all devastated. There were some tears. The clinic has been a wonderful service."

The founder, who was born in Prague in 1914, was a consultant in radiotherapy at the Royal Sussex from 1950 and introduced a number of far-sighted changes in the care and treatment of cancer patients.

When the clinic was started grateful patients left legacies to the charity but that has tailed off.

The clinic also operates a web site and a helpline and Dr de Winter plans to continue to operate them himself.

The site can be found at www.dew-health.org