by Rebecca Hannant
Easington’s East End Cancer Relief has donated equipment worth £9,600 to the Queen’s Centre for Oncology and Haematology at Castle Hill Hospital.
Using funds raised through various community events, the charity has provided eight ambulatory syringe drivers to be used by palliative care nursing staff.
The equipment delivers a continuous infusion of up to four medications at a time over a 24-hour period. The aim is to enable patients to be discharged early from hospital while maintaining uninterrupted access to their medication at home.
Thanks to their small and portable design, the syringe drivers make a life-changing difference to cancer patients, giving them the freedom and independence to participate in everyday family life while managing their symptoms.
One driver recently enabled a woman in hospital to attend her sister’s wedding comfortably and pain-free. Another allowed a teenage cancer patient to attend a festival.
East End Cancer Relief trustees Charlotte James, Lisa Pryor, Michelle Olive and Andrea Robinson brought members of the local community together through events including the Welwick Wheelers bike ride, craft fairs, raffles and a country and western night to raise the funds.
Originally set up in the late 1970s, East End Cancer Relief has raised £190,000 over the years. Since May 2023, it has operated as a registered charity with trustees Lisa and Andrea taking the reins, later joined by Michelle and Charlotte.
The charity’s aim is to raise funds for the Queen’s Centre cancer wards at Castle Hill Hospital by providing or assisting with the provision of equipment, facilities and services not normally funded by statutory authorities – complementing the care provided by doctors.
Over the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years, the charity has raised more than £25,000, which has funded medical body composition analyser scales, furniture for relatives’ rooms, and the syringe drivers.
Andrea said: “We are immensely proud to be able to provide support in this way and it was fantastic to hear first-hand from the nursing staff the difference the syringe drivers make to patients’ lives – including things that some of us do every day, from popping into the garden to making spending time with family a reality away from a hospital environment.
“I would like to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to everyone who has helped at our events and donated either money or goods to contribute to the funds raised. We worked alongside the hospital’s WISHH charity to identify how our funds could be used for the benefit of cancer patients.
“The syringe drivers will make a difference to thousands of patients in the years to come and will also help reduce the pressure on community nurses, who are reassured to know patients will be comfortable following discharge from hospital for 24 hours, before swapping over to community machines.”
The East End Cancer Relief team is now planning further fundraising activities and will continue to work alongside the WISHH charity to identify other areas of support.