Temporary buildings to help ease the pressure on a busy breast cancer unit will arrive at their new hospital home tomorrow.

The buildings will form part of the Nigel Porter breast cancer unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

They are being transported from Hull on two 48ft-long lorries and will be escorted by police as they make their way through Brighton and Hove to the hospital in Eastern Road.

Drivers are warned they may face disruption from about 10am, when the lorries are scheduled to reach the outskirts of the city.

The portable cabins will be used to help provide more space at the unit until a new purpose-built centre is built at the nearby Rosaz House site.

The new buildings will be used by the unit's doctors, nurses and admin staff and will include a rest area, toilets and a place where test results and slides can be checked.

The £500,000 scheme will then provide more room at the existing cramped Nigel Porter unit and create a better environment for patients.

Changes will help the hospital act on the recommendations of the Commission for Health Improvement which said the unit's physical environment was "degrading" to patients as it was too small and cramped.

It will also help staff at the unit maintain their good record on meeting the Government's demands that all urgent breast cancer referrals get their first appointment in two weeks, by creating space so more patients can be seen quickly.

Health bosses had originally wanted to transfer the whole unit to Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, because they said there was no suitable alternative site in the city.

More than 30,000 people signed a petition, backed by The Argus, calling for services to be kept in Brighton and Hove.

Campaigners suggested the Rosaz House site instead, which was eventually given the go-ahead at a joint Mid Sussex and Brighton and Hove City Primary Care Trust meeting in September.

The temporary buildings have been brought in as an interim measure because it will be several years before the new multi-million pound unit will be ready.