Australia’s first Comprehensive Children’s Cancer Centre is to be established at the Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick, NSW.

Funded by almost $600 million from the Commonwealth and NSW state government, the centre will be the new home for the Children’s Cancer Institute, and also for an expanded Kid’s Cancer Centre at Sydney Children’s Hospital.

The centre will put 500 clinicians and researchers under one roof and help provide integrated cancer care similar for children with cancer to that received by adults, according to a statement from the Children’s Cancer Institute.

“This ground-breaking initiative will build on our 35 year partnership with Sydney Children’s Hospital to deliver innovative, translational research from the lab bench to the bedside as quickly as possible, resulting in improved outcomes for children with cancer.”

According to the Institute, the research to be undertaken in the new Centre will span the entire spectrum from laboratory research into treatment and prevention, through to research on the impact of cancer on families, and on the integration of new discoveries into improved models of care.

“This seamless integration of doctors and researchers will allow Children’s Cancer Institute to better utilise patient data from the bedside, to drive new research discoveries at the lab bench and to take these back to the bedside in real time,” it said.

The project will be funded with $428 million from the NSW government, $100 million from the Commonwealth government, $30 million from the University of NSW, $25 million from Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation and $25 million from the Children’s Cancer Institute.