A £15 million hospital radiotherapy centre, delayed for nearly a year because of funding problems, is due to start treating its first patients this summer.

It is based at Eastbourne District General Hospital and means cancer patients in the area can be treated closer to home.

At the moment they have to travel to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton or Maidstone in Kent.

The investment, funded by Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, will act as a satellite unit for the radiotherapy centre in Brighton.

Two radiotherapy machines, known as linear accelerators, have now arrived at the hospital and specialists are beginning the complex task of installing, calibrating and testing them.

The centre was supposed to have been opened sooner but work was suspended in December 2015 due to delays in getting final funding approval from the Department of Health.

Work eventually restarted in September.

Eastbourne consultant oncologist Fiona McKinna said: “The arrival of the two linear accelerator machines marks real progress in the building of this new radiotherapy centre.

“Most importantly, it brings closer the time when we will be able to make a very real and practical difference to local cancer patients, dramatically reducing the time they spend travelling for this vital treatment.”

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust chief executive Adrian Bull said: “When operational these new machines will deliver high quality cancer treatment for local residents.”

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals chief executive Evelyn Barker added: “The centre will see services delivered within a state-of-the-art, fully equipped facility.

“People who need radiotherapy often have to come in daily for a number of weeks, so opening a radiotherapy treatment centre in Eastbourne will make real improvements for some of our sickest patients.”

The Friends of Eastbourne Hospital are also raising £386,000 to support the new unit.

Almost half of all people with cancer have radiotherapy as part of their treatment plan.

Radiotherapy can be used, alone or in combination with chemotherapy to try to cure cancers.

For people with incurable cancers, radiotherapy is a very effective method of controlling symptoms.

Radiotherapy can be used before surgery to shrink a tumour so it’s easier to remove, or after surgery to destroy small amounts of tumour that may be left.

External radiotherapy usually involves using linear accelerators, which focus high-energy radiation beams onto the area being treated.