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The Gynaecology Cancer team at the N&N has recently undertaken its first successful robotic surgery, using one of the two new robots brought thanks to a £1m donation from the N&N Hospital’s Charity, to perform a laparoscopic surgery.

Tim Duncan is the first Gynaecology Consultant trained to use a robot and explains the benefits for patients.

“In our department, we have a long history of using minimally-invasive surgery (laparoscopic) to provide high-quality treatment with improved post-operative outcomes. Robotic surgery represents advancement in this form of surgery, allowing increasingly complex procedures to be performed. Thanks to the robot, operating times can be reduced from five to three hours and patients will be in less pain when they are recovering.

 “The four- robotic arms allow me to perform manoeuvres that wouldn’t be possible using conventional laparoscopic instruments. As a surgeon, during a long operation your body is under a lot of strain, often spending hours in uncomfortable positions. This can lead to injuries. However, operating with the robot means I am seated at a console away from the patient, which is a more comfortable position to work in.

“The robot has a FireFly utility: this is a function of the camera that allow us to visualise dye within lymphatic channels and continue the implementation of sentinel lymph nodes, which are the nodes where a cancer spreads to first, so by finding and examining these nodes we can accurately assess if cancer has spread of not.

“These techniques are at the forefront of endometrial cancer treatment and something we had begun to develop using standard laparoscopic equipment. These procedures allow us to accurately pin-point where a cancer may potentially spread to.”

In order to perform the first surgery, Tim and his team were assisted by nurses from Urology, who already have significant experience of robotic surgery.

“I had to go through lengthy training on virtual reality simulators and models before operating on patients,” he said. “The theatre team had to learn new skills, such as how to place instruments into robot arms, positioning the robot correctly over the patient and how to correct small technical issues that may happen during a surgery.

“Initially, around three operations per week will now be conducted by our team using the robot, but there are plans to extend the number of surgeons in our department who are trained to use the robot. This will enable us to deliver the advantages of robotic surgery to a wider group of patients, in particular those with endometrial cancer.”

The annual appeal to give every patient at the Norfolk and Norwich University a gift on Christmas Day will take place this year but with changes in light of Covid-19 restrictions.

Each year, the N&N Hospitals Charity’s Send a Smile with Santa appeal collects more than 1,000 presents kindly donated by the members of the public and businesses across Norfolk.

These are then distributed to patients, both young and old, who will spend Christmas in hospital and are unable to celebrate at home with their families.

However, with social distancing measures in place this year, the charity is asking people who would like to give a present to a patient, to instead make a small donation which could then be used by the charity to purchase a gift.

The only exception will be children’s gifts which can be dropped off across a number of specific days in early December.

Louise Cook, Head of Fundraising, said: “Send a Smile is now in its fifth year and each year we are so grateful for the wonderful gifts given to us which we know make a huge difference to our patients.

“It’s fantastic that people go out and purchase a present, but this year as we look to minimise footfall to the hospital, we hope that people will consider making a donation which we will use to purchase a present. For example, £5 could help us to buy a toiletries’ gift set which will be wrapped up and given out on Christmas morning.

“We know that people do enjoy choosing and purchasing gifts for our children so we are accepting presents in early December for our youngest patients to give us time to quarantine the items and then wrap them up for each individual child.”

Gifts for children can only be dropped off at the hospital’s West Inpatients Reception from December 1-7 which is open 24 hours.

All presents should be new and remain unwrapped so that the hospital can ensure they are suitable for each child before being wrapped up. In addition to gifts, the hospital would also welcome donations of new gift bags and wrapping paper.

If you would like to support Christmas at the hospital, please make a donation here https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/ChristmasNNUH

For more information about the work of the hospital charity go to www.nnhospitalscharity.org.uk

For the last two years the N&N Hospitals Charity has brought Christmas to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital by transforming and illuminating the plaza in December with a twinkling displays of snowflakes.

This year we are again asking for the support of the community and business partners by sponsoring the snowflake display with the Christmas snowflakes display representing a beacon of hope in support of teams at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals who have faced the most challenging year during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Professor Nancy Fontaine, NNUH Chief Nurse, said: “2020 has been a very difficult year for so many people around Norfolk and I am so proud of the support shown to our hospitals.

“At this special time of year we would like to light up the hospital, so it can be enjoyed by staff, patients and visitors.

“We appreciate that it has been an exceptionally difficult year and would be delighted for as many businesses as possible, that are willing and able, to get behind the Snowflake Appeal to not only to support the work of our staff but illuminate the hospital at the end of 2020 to celebrate the start of a hopeful New Year.”

Louise Cook, head of fundraising at the hospital, added: “This idea has been used by other hospitals in the country to support their hospital charities and we would love for Norfolk businesses to help us shine bright this year. We hope display will be enjoyed by everyone visiting the hospital, and will raise money for the charity which in turn is used to benefit patients, staff and visitors.”

If you would like more information about sponsoring the snowflake display, please contact nnuhcharity@nnuh.nhs.uk or fundraising@nnuh.nhs.uk or call 01603 286786.

To find out more about the N&N Hospital Charity please visit https://nnhospitalscharity.org.uk/

A Rotary Club president has walked the entire length of the Boudicca Way in one of his final acts as president while raising money for the N&N Hospitals Charity Boudicca Breast Cancer appeal.

Phil Catchpole, President of Diss Rotary Club, set off on July 7 from Diss and walked the 36 miles to Norwich and immediately turned around to walk back again, completing the 72 miles in 24 hours and seven minutes.

The walk raised more than £3,000 for the breast cancer appeal which aims to provide a dedicated breast unit at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Another £3,000 was raised for Tiger Testing at the UEA which identifies aggressive prostate cancers.

To celebrate handing over the £3,078 to the Boudicca Appeal, Phil decided to walk from Diss to the hospital to meet N&N Hospitals Charity Director John Paul Garside and Deputy Divisional Director Matt Keeling.

Mr Garside said: “It has been a pleasure working with the Rotaries over the past year and their incredible support of the Boudicca Appeal and we are so delighted that the Diss Rotary has raised £3,000 for the second stage of our Boudicca Appeal, where we start to create the environment and the clinic for patients.”

Mr Keeling said: “Having purchased the additional equipment required for the new clinic, we are now looking to create the new space for our patients and staff.

“In recent months, we have been focused on our work with the Covid pandemic and now we would like to focus on completing our Breast Cancer clinic and this is a fantastic way to kick start the appeal again.”

For more information about the Boudicca Appeal and how you can help, go to https://nnhospitalscharity.org.uk

A team from the University of East Anglia (UEA) is going underground for a summer challenge to support the N&N Hospitals Charity.

Having completed this academic year’s exams, members of the UEA Physiotherapy Society have moved their focus to fundraising and will be running, walking or cycling the total sum of miles of the London underground tracks.

The challenge will take place over 48 hours on August 8 and 9 and funds raised will be split between the charity’s adult and children physiotherapy funds which are used to support physio teams at the N&N through supplying extra equipment or specialist training for staff.

Jessica MacFarlane, physiotherapy student and fundraising and campaign officer for the Physiotherapy Society at the UEA, said: “As a society we are greatly interested in supporting the N&N as our dedicated charity throughout the upcoming academic year.

“We feel it is important to connect with our local community and believe supporting the N&N, as our local trust, is a great opportunity to accomplish this.”

Lynn Crombie, from N&N Hospitals Charity, said: “We are delighted that the Physiotherapy Society has chosen to support our charity and, in particular, the physiotherapy team here at the N&N.

“We have a close relationship with our colleagues at the UEA and it’s fantastic that they have come up with such as exciting challenge and we look forward to seeing their results.”

If you would like to support the team, donations can be made here

For more details about the N&N Hospitals Charity and how you can help, visit https://nnhospitalscharity.org.uk

Two potters have raised more than £1,000 for the Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals Charity from the sale of ‘Lockdown Pots’ made to mark the first six weeks of lockdown in England.

Charlotte Harrison, from Saxlingham Nethergate, and Jo Scholfield, from Bungay, made 42 pots each from 23 March to 4 May which were given in return for a donation at a table-top sale at Adelaide House, Saxlingham Nethergate, last month.

Facing the difficulties of accessing materials during lockdown, both potters used the limited clay and materials they had to hand at the time.

Charlotte made 42 flower pots each stamped with ‘Lockdown Pot’ and Jo made 42 small cylindrical vases each stamped with ‘NHS’ and ‘Lockdown’. A sunflower was grown to be given with every flower pot and a posy of garden flowers was given with every vase.

Thanks to the donations, £1,031 was raised for the charity which will go to the Critical Care Complex (also known as the Intensive Care Unit).

Charlotte said: “We never expected to gather such huge local support and to raise so much money, but people were moved to donate generously for the NHS and to have a me mento of Lockdown.

“We would both like to thank everyone involved for helping to make this project a great success.”

Lynn Crombie, from the N&N Hospitals Charity, said: “We are always grateful to our fundraisers who enable us to do so much more to enhance the care which patients receive at our hospital.

“The money raised will make a huge difference to our team on the Critical Care Unit as well as the patients and their families who may use these facilities in the future.”

For more information about N&N Hospitals Charity, go to www.nnhospitalscharity.org.uk or follow us on Twitter and Instagram @NNUHCharity or www.facebook.com/nnuhcharity1/

Hospital and charity representatives gathered to mark the start of work on a state-of-the-art cancer care and support centre at Cromer and District Hospital.

They were joined by Norwich-based firm Pentaco Construction Ltd which won the contract for the work, which will see the refurbishment and extension of the Davison Unit, a disused ward at the hospital.

The North Norfolk Macmillan Centre is being funded and built in partnership between Macmillan Cancer Support, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the Norfolk & Norwich Hospitals Charity.

The building work on the £4.85million project is expected to take around a year, with the new centre enabling patients with cancer to access treatment and support closer to home.
The centre will include:

• Six chemotherapy treatment chairs with capacity to treat up to 36 patients a day.
• Three new clinic rooms and two new minor procedure rooms, creating an additional 10,000 outpatient appointments annually and space for new cancer diagnostics, including prostate biopsy.
• A Macmillan cancer information and support centre.
• The new unit will also free up space in the main Cromer Hospital building to deliver an extra 600 surgical procedures in dermatology, urology, vascular surgery and pain management.

Jo Haywood, chair of Macmillan’s North Norfolk Fundraising Committee, said: “It’s wonderful to see building work progressing and this will make such a difference to cancer patients living in North Norfolk who are currently travelling to Norwich for their treatment.

“Cromer Hospital was originally built using public donations so there’s a great parallel there between what happened then and the current work. This means so much to the people of North Norfolk.”

Sam Higginson, Chief Executive of NNUH said: “This is an important step in delivering extra services at Cromer as part of our mission to deliver first class treatments to the population in North Norfolk and further afield. We are delighted to see the work get underway providing additional capacity to meet the needs of an older, rural patient group.”

For more information about N&N Hospitals Charity, go to www.nnhospitalscharity.org.uk or follow us on Twitter and Instagram @NNUHCharity or https://www.facebook.com/nnuhcharity1/

A seven-year-old boy is walking, cycling and scooting the distance from his grandad’s house in Norwich to York Train Museum to raise money for the hospital department where his grandad is being treated for terminal cancer.

Jacob Gravestock, from Dereham, began the challenge on June 19 and aims to complete the 188 miles in 70 days.

He said: “My wonderful grandad Colin Clarke was diagnosed with terminal bowel cancer just before lockdown in March. He has been very brave and strong and loves me lots.

“I want to raise money for Weybourne Day Unit at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital because they give my grandad his palliative chemotherapy to help keep him with us for longer so we can make more memories.

“I am going to walk, cycle and scoot the distance from grandad’s house to York Train Museum because it is a place that grandad and I love visiting together. If you would like to sponsor me that would be incredible.”

So far, the youngster has already raised more than £1,000 and the family is using Virtual Mission to record his progress.

Mum Danielle said: “You can see on the link how many miles he is averaging a day but I would say between three and four miles a day.

“We are so proud of him and his determination to complete his mission. We have all been very touched by the incredible donations and words of encouragement that Jacob has received for this fundraising challenge.

“Every kind word and donation given, gives Jacob a real boost to get out and do more miles.”

You can donate to Jacob’s fundraising page here.

Lynn Crombie, from the N&N Hospitals Charity, said: “What an amazing little boy Jacob is and we thank him so much for doing such a remarkable challenge for our charity and in particular, our team on the Weybourne Unit.

“We hope Jacob makes so many more special memories with his grandad.”

For more information about N&N Hospitals Charity, go to www.nnhospitalscharity.org.uk or follow us on Twitter and Instagram @NNUHCharity or https://www.facebook.com/nnuhcharity1/

The football world has once again thrown its support behind the N&N Hospitals Charity to raise money for the Acute Oncology Service at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

Former England, West Ham, Chelsea and Liverpool footballer Joe Cole and BT Sport presenter and Norfolk-born Jake Humphrey are among those backing the appeal.

Teams from across the country, and further afield, have donated a selection of amazing prizes, including a Liverpool Cap signed by Jurgen Klopp, signed Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, RB Leipzig, West Ham, Norwich City and Arsenal shirts, a signed Chelsea shirt and ball and a shirt signed by Liverpool’s Sadio Mane.

It follows similar donations for a raffle last year which raised money to help purchase a piece of equipment to treat ovarian cancer patients.

Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is being introduced at NNUH, which will soon be used for hot chemotherapy baths to the abdomen at the end of surgery for ovarian cancer.

Both campaigns have been spearheaded by fundraiser David Giess who has worked in the football industry and whose wife, Anne, was treated for ovarian cancer at NNUH. Sadly, she passed away last September, but fundraising has continued in her memory.

Former England, West Ham, Chelsea and Liverpool footballer Joe Cole said: “My dear friend was treated at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital for ovarian cancer from which she died last year, leaving us all devastated.

“However, I have been hugely impressed at the excellent treatment Anne received by all the teams at NNUH.

“I have donated to the hospital’s VOiCE campaign last year and am delighted to support this new campaign to raise money for the Acute Oncology Service where Anne was also treated. Please join me in supporting this appeal and give what you can.”

The prizes for the draw have been donated by clubs to help raise money for the Acute Oncology Service (AOS) at the NNUH.

The AOS cares for patients in an emergency who develop symptoms as a result of their cancer or treatment or a new undiagnosed cancer.

Jake Humphrey said: “I am delighted to support this brilliant fundraising initiative. The items on offer are awesome, meaning people can get an exclusive bit of football memorabilia, whilst helping a good cause. The care the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital offer all patients is lifesaving, and more lives will be saved if you back this exciting fundraising drive.”

Tracey Shaw, Acting Oncology Matron for AOS, said: “We are so grateful to David and his sons for organising this and for the clubs for donating these fantastic prizes which are priceless for football and sports fans everywhere.

“We have such lovely memories of Anne and it’s so generous of David to think of our team and want to do so much to provide the things that make such a difference to our patients and their families.”

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and social distancing restrictions, tickets will be sold online only and the link is now live. The closing date to enter is 30 July 2020 and the draw will be held on 3 August 2020.

To enter and the chance of winning some unique prizes, get your tickets here 

Louise Cook from the Hospitals Charity, said: “In recent months, we have seen such tremendous support for our hospitals and the NHS from the whole community, from businesses to school children.

“We hope everyone gets behind this virtual raffle which is taking place thanks to the generosity of the football world so if you can, please buy a ticket, support our AOS and you could also win some fantastic prizes.”

The N&N Hospitals Charity raises money to support patients, their families and our staff at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. For more information, go to www.nnhospitalscharity.org.uk

The Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals Charity has made its single biggest donation in its history with a £1.8m grant for the expansion of Cromer Hospital.

Currently most people from the Cromer area have to travel to Norwich for treatment and the new centre will enable more people to access cancer treatment and support closer to home.

The centre will include:
• Six chemotherapy treatment chairs with capacity to treat up to 36 patients a day.
• Three new clinic rooms and two new minor procedure rooms, creating an additional 10,000 outpatient appointments annually and space for new cancer diagnostics, including prostate biopsy
• A Macmillan cancer information and support centre
• The new unit will also free up space in the main Cromer Hospital building to deliver an extra 600 surgical procedures in dermatology, urology, vascular surgery and pain management.

This donation comes swiftly on the back of two of the largest donations the charity has made to the trust in the last 10 years: £1m for a surgical robot and £600,000 towards the trust’s mobile cancer unit. Both of these grants were the charity’s largest in its history.

Head of Charity and Trust Secretary John Paul Garside said: “Last year’s spending programme was the largest for a decade. These grants help to improve patient and staff experience by funding innovative projects such as the surgical robot.”

Some of the grants given to the trust have been done so using money raised through NHS Charities Together (of which we are a member) which includes finds from Colonel Sir Tom Moore’s £39m.

Mr Garside said: “I would like to thank everyone who has raised funds for the charity to enable us to make these significant contributions. We value hugely the support we receive from our community, near and far.”

The charity is not resting on its laurels, and has ambitious plans to continue developing its capacity to benefit patients in the next year through research, education, purchase of equipment, staff support and providing ‘extras’ that are not otherwise available through the NHS.

Notes to editors
Charity grants also include:
• £571k to establish a mobile chemotherapy service
• £200k in supporting research, especially in healthy ageing and the North Norfolk population
• £10,000 for a joint project with Big C to provide welfare packages for post-op and post-chemo cancer patients;
• £2,680 to fund a Master’s programme for a member of the Oncology Team
• £10,000 to supporta research project relating to the treatment of retinal detachment, in conjunction with King’s College Hospital
• £500 for additional breast pumps for mothers with babies on NICU
• £7,800 to implement a remote monitoring system for patients with Motor Neurone Disease
• £312 for ‘poppy’ cards for use by the Palliative Care service, initially to communicate with families who have suffered a bereavement as a result of Covid.

During the Covid-19 pandemic the charity has made donations, but also shifted its activity to sourcing and co-ordinating gifts. It has:
• Spent £17,000 on hand cream for staff, to counter the effects of repeated handwashing and use of antiseptic gel;
• Sourced iPads to help patients in isolation talk to loved ones
• Sourced 21 fridges, 24 microwaves and 26 kettles for additional staff rest areas in the hospital (thanks to the generosity of Hughes Electricals and John Lewis)
• Delivered 11,000 Easter eggs
• Distributed 1,000 bouquets of flowers to staff
• Provided shower gel and shampoo in all the temporary showers erected on the NNUH site, (sourced through Cringleford Waitrose, Tesco, the Rotary Club of Norwich, Morrisons, Lush, Lucy Bee, Body Shop, Avon)
• Arranged for ‘farm shops’ to sell produce on site three times a weekfor staff who were finding it difficult to access supermarkets

The trust also co-ordinates its Amazon Wish list for patients and the public who want to show their support for the work of the Hospital and its staff. This allows them to pick items which they know will be useful to the trust.

Details of current appeals that people can support are on the Charity website www.nnhospitalscharity.org.uk
If you or people you know are making purchases through Amazon, please remember to use AmazonSmile and select N&N Hospital Charity as your chosen charity (the Charity will receive a donation of 0.5% of the purchase price).