ACTOR Hugh Grant has launched a campaign to highlight nursing services available for terminally ill cancer sufferers.

The Four Weddings And A Funeral star’s mother was cared for by Marie Curie staff in the last weeks of her life.

Grant launched a new awareness campaign for the charity at the British Museum last night.

He also revealed the results of a YouGov survey which showed that nearly four out of five people did not know that a Marie Curie nurse would be available to them and half did not know how to get one.

The 48-year-old said: “I know from my own experience how important access to the Marie Curie Nursing Service is to patients at the end of their lives and to their families. Ninety-six per cent of the country has access to the Marie Curie Nursing Service.

“People don’t need to wait to be offered a Marie Curie Nurse – you can ask your GP, your district nurse or go to the Marie Curie Cancer Care website for more information.” Last month, the Government pledged to look at whether patients could be given the right to die at home.

Marie Curie chief executive Thomas Hughes-Hallett welcomed the commitment, but said: “I am also calling on the NHS to work with Marie Curie Cancer Care and other partners to bring about a radical improvement in the awareness of end of life care services available to people where they live.”