A unit for teenage cancer patients will officially open on Tyneside, which has been assisted by Joe McElderry, X FACTOR winner, and a rock legend.

Yesterday, at the Newcastle's Great North Children's Hospital, the South Shields star was accompanied by Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York and her daughters Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice in addition to The Who front man, Roger Daltrey were also seen in the hospital. Before marking the official opening of the novel unit, all of the above were introduced to patients and staff.

Funded by the Teenage Cancer Trust, this specialist unit is introduced to accommodate 13 to 18-year-old cancer patients. This special allowance is made due to the fact that these children often find it difficult to settle within a hospital environment as they are too old for a children's ward, and too young for an adult one.

Unlike ordinary hospital wards, this £1.7m 10-bed unit is premeditated by, and for, teenagers to be like a 'home from home'. This includes a recreational room, with pool table plasma television and juke box; a kitchen and a dining area; study room and a parents' room; a harmonizing therapy room, and a special chill-out zone with access to internet facilities. It also comprises rooms where parents can stay with their sick child.

This has come up as a long awaited development in Tyneside.