Members of NHS Tayside’s finance and resources committee heard today that £250,000 was available now to provide a new-build extension that would expand the existing, cramped facilities in the dermatology department.

They were also told that almost £1 million extra would be needed to fulfil the department’s ambition of creating a world-class centre for teaching and research, in combination with a centre of excellence for the treatment of skin cancer and other skin conditions.

The committee agreed it would be better to pursue the development as a whole, and heard that doctors and staff in the department had already been fairly successful in raising funds from charitable organisations and pledges from large trusts — but that there was still a gap of several hundred thousand pounds.

NHS Tayside has around £20 million held in endowment funds — in effect, money donated to provide extra comforts for patients, but not intended to provide what the NHS calls “core services”, which should be funded by the general health budget.

“Why are we putting a burden on clinicians and others to fund-raise when we have got a lot of endowment money?” asked NHS Tayside chairman Peter Bates.

Finance director Colin Masson said a proposal could be submitted to the board of trustees of the Endowment Funds, but said the department was willing to raise further funds if there was a gap.

Presenting the proposals, he said, “There are two very distinct but related aspects to this scheme. There is a service element on the one hand, and research and clinical trials on the other.”

On the service element, he said the issue was to find ways of reducing waiting times for outpatient consultations and dealing with Tayside’s increasing incidence of skin cancer.

He said it was in the context of the service element that the Executive’s Centre for Change and Innovation had agreed to provide £250,000 for an expansion of the floor space required for the service.

He said the department wanted to link an expansion of their research capability with the development of treatment facilities.

He successfully sought agreement in principle for a scheme to extend the physical space of the dermatology department. Members also supported an approach to the Endowment Funds trustees.

Dermatology consultant Dr Colin Fleming later welcomed the committee’s support and estimated a further £600,000 was needed for the project.

“Skin cancer is the commonest cancer in Scotland,” he said. “It is increasing more rapidly than any other form of cancer.

“We have got great local expertise in skin cancer services. We run national and regional services for skin cancer patients from Ninewells and have got an international research profile. We really want to create a centre of excellence for all of these things.”