Fundraising for vital equipment to treat cancer patients from across Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin and mid Wales is continuing, despite the appeal fund reaching its initial target four months early.
The Lingen Davies Cancer Fund launched the ACTION appeal in January 2015 to raise £750,000 by the end of 2016 to help fund an additional Linear Accelerator (LINAC) for the Cancer and Haematology Centre at RSH.
The machine will cost £1.5 million, with the other half of the money being provided by The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) as part of its continuing investment in cancer services based at the Lingen Davies Centre.
After reaching the initial £750,000 total in September, organisers of the ACTION appeal are continuing to fundraise for an additional piece of equipment which will improve the accuracy of readings from the LINAC machine.
Liz Kyle, Acting Fundraising Manager at Lingen Davies, which is an independent charity supporting cancer care in Shropshire and mid Wales, said: “Although we reached our initial target earlier than expected, our fundraising never stops. We have now extended the appeal to raise a further £166,000 for a PerfectPitch Couch, which goes alongside the LINAC to further improve accuracy and limit the time patients are exposed to radiation.
“We will also continue our fundraising for smaller projects, such as the mobile app which is being tested to help cancer patients manage the side effects of chemotherapy.”
The new LINAC machine is expected to be installed at RSH in April 2017.
SATH is continuing to invest in cancer services at both RSH and the Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford with plans to provide Chemotherapy services at both sites, through the existing Lingen Davies Centre at RSH and an expanded and enhanced service at PRH.
Dr Sheena Khanduri, Clinical Lead for Cancer Services at SaTH, said: “I am very pleased that we provide such excellent cancer services. For any illness, but perhaps particularly for cancer, patients want to know that they can be treated in a timely, effective and safe manner, ideally as close to their homes as possible.
“At SaTH, we do that and it is only for complex cases that we transfer patients to more specialist units. The results we achieve at our Trust rival some of the leading centres in the country.
“It is great that we have such generous support from charitable organisations including our local charities such as the Lingen Davies Cancer Fund, the League of Friends of the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and the Friends of the Princess Royal Hospital, who have helped us provide state of art treatment to deliver better care.
“We are committed not only to maintaining the services that we have currently, but also to improving provision and access to treatments.
“That means further investment to strengthen our facilities at RSH and investing more at PRH with new facilities, such as for chemotherapy.”