A MAJOR new fundraising challenge to provide life-saving equipment at Salisbury District Hospital will be launched by the Earl of Pembroke tomorrow night.

The Stars Appeal will initially focus on two targets - netting £100,000 for new state-of the-art equipment for the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit and £300,000 to equip a trail-blazing keyhole cancer operating theatre.

The campaign, which will be unveiled at a ceremony at the earl's Wilton House ancestral home, follows in the footsteps of the Ace of Hearts Appeal, which almost three years ago raised £1m for a cardiac unit.

And, as it did for that cause, the Journal will be giving its wholehearted support to this latest appeal - encouraging people across the area to raise money for it and running regular features about its aims and its progress.

Commenting this week on the drive for cash to aid newborn babies, head of neonatal services Caroline Brunt said: "There are about 300 babies every year who are born too sick, too small or too soon and who need additional care from us before they are able to go home.

"Some of these babies, who can be born four months early and weigh as little as a bag of sugar, can spend up to three months on the unit.

"The new equipment will help us to provide the best possible care using the latest technology."

The Stars Appeal will also benefit cancer patients requiring surgery by raising money for one of the first dedicated keyhole operating theatres in the country.

The theatre will enable surgeons to offer more patients keyhole surgery - the most sophisticated and least invasive form of surgery available. Keyhole surgery has many benefits for the patients including significantly shorter recovery times and less post-operative pain and scarring.

Consultant colorectal surgeon Graham Branagan said: "This ultra-modern facility will thrust Salisbury to the very forefront of keyhole surgery and enable us to provide the highest possible standards of surgical care for patients with a range of cancers, including bowel and kidney cancer, as well as those requiring more general surgery."

The chairman of Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, Luke March, told the Journal: "Charitable donations have always played a vital part in providing additional resources that benefit patients.

"The new Stars Appeal will help us to carry on providing that bit extra over and above that which the NHS provides."

Among guests attending tomorrow night's launch will be Radio 2 disc jockey Johnnie Walker, who underwent a life-saving cancer operation at Salisbury District Hospital in 2003. He is expected to be there with his wife Tiggy.

A further launch event will take place at Salisbury District Hospital next week when stars of Channel 4's Green Wing and patrons of the Appeal Julian Rhind-Tutt and Stephen Mangan will be visiting the hospital to meet staff and patients.

To find out more about how you can get involved visit www.starsappeal.org or call the Appeal office on 01722 429005.