Proposals to invest millions of pounds into cancer treatments have been welcomed by Sussex health experts.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn today unveiled an £87.5m boost for cancer services.

The money will be allocated over the next four years and will be targeted at cancers of the stomach, pancreas and oesophagus.

The cash will be spent on reducing the 18,000 deaths a year nationally from these cancers by developing more specialist services.

Health officials in Sussex are pleased with today's announcement but do not yet know how much of the money will be allocated to the county.

Each year thousands of people in Sussex die from cancer, the single biggest cause of death in the county.

Farhang Tahzib, consultant in public health medicine at West Sussex Health Authority, said: "There are urgent needs to modernise and improve cancer services to provide equal access to best treatments for all.

"Any new money will be used to develop the cancer networks to provide high quality modern services, funding of new cancer drugs and ensuring that services are focused around the patient and their needs."

The announcement of the funding comes as a report was due to be published outlining new ways of organising cancer care services.

The report, drawn up by doctors, nurses and managers in a year-long study, was expected to show ways of improving waiting times and results in cancer care.

Professor Gordon McVie, director general of the Cancer Research Campaign, welcomed the extra funds for stomach cancer treatment.

But he said the report would reveal some "shockingly long" waits for treatment in cancer care generally.

He said: "In some cases, the time between diagnosis and treatment has taken six months.

"Things will not get dramatically better until 600 new cancer consultants appear, 600 new nurses, we need new pathologists, radiologists, we are grossly under-resourced after years and years of starvation in cancer care."