Another £10,000 has been pledged to a skin charity after statistics revealed that two in three people in Worcestershire will suffer from a skin condition.

Leading health care provider, Circle Health Group (CHG), has donated the five-figure sum to the British Skin Foundation’s (BSF) skin research programme for the second year.

Melanoma skin cancer, the fifth most common cancer in the UK, is a particular focus, and is expected to have 26,500 new cases every year by 2040.

CHG's donation from last year has gone towards an important melanoma project, that aims to improve early detection for the potentially deadly skin cancer.

Spearheaded by Leeds Beckett researcher, Dr Jaskaren Kohli, the goal is to equip healthcare professionals with more tools to catch the disease in its early stages, when it is easier to treat, and thereby increasing survival rates for patients.

Dr Kohli will look for better biomarkers in moles and black skin lesions that can develop into deadly cancer if left untreated.

The health group says that the research has the potential to not only improve quality of life in Britain, but worldwide.

Adam Busby, group clinical director at CHG, said: "The British Skin Foundation are at the forefront of research into skin conditions like melanoma.

"We know first-hand the difference research like this can make to the lives of our patients.

"As a hospital operator, we are committed to supporting improvements in the understanding, research and treatment of skin conditions.

"We are proud to be playing our part in supporting future generations."

The foundation's chief executive officer, Matthew Patey OBE, said: "Research is the core of what we do here at the BSF, but it doesn’t come cheap.

"Thanks to generous supporters like Circle Health Group, we can fund top quality research with some of the UK’s most talented scientists – finding the cures and treatments of the future."