HEALTH Secretary and Darlington MP Alan Milburn is to officially open a children's hospice.
Mr Milburn will open Stockton's Butterwick Children's Hospice on Monday, in the grounds of North Tees General Hospital.
Building work on the hospice was completed with the generous help of readers of The Northern Echo, who donated £500,000 to an appeal, after funds ran out.
David Luke, hospice chief executive, said: "It is an honour for us and a tribute to our many supporters that the Secretary of State for Health has agreed to officially open the children's hospice."
Mr Milburn will also use the occasion to launch the country's first palliative care degree course, which has been jointly developed by the Butterwick Hospice and the University of Northumbria.
The children's hospice is the region's only specialist building of its kind. It supports 200 families with a child suffering life-threatening illness, and covers an area stretching from North Yorkshire and Teesside to County Durham.
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