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).
