Rock stars usually look out of place on NHS hospital wards. But opening Scotland

Even the showers have their own radio system in the adolescent unit of the new Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, Glasgow.

Young patients used to being treated on the adult wards of the old Beatson, where they shared bath facilities with more than 20 other patients several times their age, described the new facility as a different world.
Scott Saunders, 24, who has spent 60 days in hospital since he was diagnosed with cancer last year, said the first ward he stayed in had six beds and most of the other patients were pensioners.
He continued: "There was a TV with channels one to four that were not programmed to work in that order.

The day room was shared between another three wards. There was a laptop going around but it was shared between everyone on the floor. I have been in for eight sessions of chemotherapy and I have never once got hold of it.

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In contrast the new adolescent unit, which is for patients aged 16 to 24, consists of four single and two twin rooms - all furnished with computers. There is also a bank of PCs in the day room, along with comfortable chairs, making it look more like an internet cafe. Through a door another flat screen is reserved for Xbox gaming.

Thinking about how different a stay would be in this unit, Mr Saunders, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer last year, said: "It would be a lot more relaxed. It would have helped me psychologically."
But it is the company of people more his own age, rather than the hi-tech gadgets, which he thinks makes the biggest difference.

Daltrey said this was one of his motivations for supporting the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT), the charity which has spent 500,000 on the features of the new unit.
As he officially opened the suite, Daltrey, TCT patron, said it was teenagers who had launched his own career but within the NHS there were only services for adults and children.
He continued: "I saw within the health service they were not even recognised as a social group.

I remember those in-between years. There really is a big in-between and it can be a very painful time of our lives even in good health. Imagine what those youngsters have to go through with this dreadful disease.

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He went on to praise the new facility, saying: "They are making the teenagers feel they are not coming to stay in some Dickensian factory of a hospital but in somewhere they can enjoy themselves doing all the things that teenagers do."
Professor Alan Rodger, medical director of the Beatson Oncology Centre, said the expertise of the TCT had been vital in the design of the wards.
Patients are moving in phases into the new West of Scotland Cancer Centre on the Gartnavel Hospital site from the existing Beatson at the Western Infirmary.

Young cancer sufferers will be admitted to the adolescent unit this summer.
Daltrey thanked colleagues in the music industry, including Paul Weller and Noel Gallagher of Oasis, for their support raising money for the TCT.
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