IPSWICH: Art for hearts. That is the message to aspiring young artists today, as Ipswich Hospital launches an appeal to help decorate its new specialist heart centre.

Earlier this year a three-year battle, fought by The Star, Heartbeat East Suffolk, Ipswich MP Ben Gummer and the public, secured an elective unit at the Heath Road-based trust after the government pledged �5million to fund the cardiac centre.

And today, as the first building work gets under way, health bosses are calling on youngsters at schools and colleges to play their part in putting smiles on the faces of patients.

Dr Duncan McNab, lead consultant cardiologist at the hospital, said: “Our community has wholeheartedly backed this fantastic new centre and together with Heartbeat we decided to launch an Art for Hearts project, to make that connection very visible.

“We hope that schools, colleges and our university, together with individual artists and art groups, will work with us to bring the centre alive with a range of artwork which we can display in the corridors, waiting areas and treatment rooms.”

Keith Cockrill, a shadow public governor on the hospital’s shadow council of governors and a member of the project team which is hard at work leading the development, said: “We’re looking for a wide range of artwork which we can display in the new centre which is due to be built by spring 2013.”

“We’d love to hear from anyone interested in helping us create a centre which is full of inspiration, interest, humour and one which reflects the wonderful area in which we live,” added Carolyn Cozens, general manager for the service.

To find out more, please e-mail press.office@ipswichhospital.nhs.uk or telephone 01473 704770.

n What will the new heart centre mean for you? Tell us your experiences of healthcare in Suffolk. Write to health reporter Lizzie Parry at Ipswich Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or alternatively you can e-mail lizzie.parry@archant. co.uk