The Duchess has opened six other teenage cancer centres

The unit, at the Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, was officially opened on Tuesday by the Duchess of York and The Who's frontman Roger Daltrey.

It has been funded by the Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity which work with the NHS and provides information on cancer, leukaemia, Hodgkin's and related diseases to patients and their families.

Young people with cancer are usually treated in wards alongside much older or younger people. But statistics from the Teenage Cancer Trust show that treatment in one of their units can increase patients' chances of survival by up to 15%.

These units should be a right, not a privilege Simon Davies

Simon Davies, Chief Executive of Teenage Cancer Trust said: "For the first time, teenagers with cancer living in the Merseyside area will be able to be treated in facilities designed specifically for them, with people their own age. These units should be a right, not a privilege."

The Duchess of York has been a patron of the trust since it was founded and has opened other units in London, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham and Sheffield.

Rock legend Roger Daltrey, also a patron, raised a large amount of the funding at his concert, The Who and Friends, at the Royal Albert Hall in November 2000.