The League of the Friends of Pembury Hospital

Welcome to the Eighteenth newsletter of The League of the Friends of Pembury Hospital. This is published regularly to update our existing members and to attract new members. If you would like more information about the League or matters in this newsletter, please contact Alan Davis, Honorary Secretary,

Letter from the Chairman

Our Annual General Meeting takes place on 29 April 2003, and in my Annual Report I highlighted another successful year, with over £117,000 donated to the hospital during 2002, and since then we have committed additional funds of over £100,000 for much needed equipment, most of which is for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

For this we are grateful to members of the public for their generous support, and to our army of helpers who assist us with our collections, annual fete, and who serve in our shop.

In this issue we focus on fundraising, the new hospital, the Haematology Research Fund, and our projects. We are always in need of helpers, so please give us a call if you can spare a few hours.

Gary Purdy

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Fundraising 2003

In early April a fundraising event in the form of 'An Evening's Entertainment' was held at Godden Green Clinic, Sevenoaks. As part of the Cygnet Health Care group, Godden Green is a private clinic, but sees itself as very much part of the wider health care community in our area, and generously offered to host a buffet supper for the League, completely free of charge, giving us leave to raise funds from the evening in whatever way we wished.

A very good evening was enjoyed by all. The entertainment was supplied by Richard Bellars, the magician who entertained our summer 2002 fete goers, and a quintet from the Tonbridge Philharmonic Society, who also supported us in December 2001 by donating concert proceeds to the League. Rounding it all off was a very entertaining talk by Anne Chance entitled 'Petticoat Pilots'. The generosity of those giving their time and talent to support us cannot be underestimated. Fundraising is big business these days, with the demands on individual's time and energy ever increasing, and the League is extremely grateful for this support. At the time of writing we are hopeful of realising in excess of £900 profit from the evening, which will be a welcome boost to our funds. It is not too late if you wished to send a donation in support, which would be very much appreciated.

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The New Hospital

A new hospital for Tunbridge Wells has been approved by Government using a Private Finance Initiative (PFI). This entails the choice of a suitable developer as a partner able to build a hospital to the specified standard using the partner's own funding, on a 'mortgage' basis to the NHS. The Government is now considering lumping the new hospital for Tunbridge Wells with redevelopment works at William Harvey, Kent & Canterbury, Margate, and Buckland Hospitals. This is called 'Batching' and should accelerate the procurement process from 24 months to 9 months, through the choice of one partner for the whole batch totalling some £600 million. Large savings would also be made in professional fees and NHS planning teams. If this is approved, the Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust will seek partners from May 2003 leading to a final choice in August 2003. Construction would start late summer 2004 to meet the target opening late 2008. As the Pembury site is the only one with Outline Planning approval, it has to remain the Trust's preferred site.

Some Projects selected for funding in 2003

Since our last issue the League is pleased to have committed to fund the following items -

Automated analysis equipment to cut delays in assessing samples to confirm malignancy-£40,000.

Liquid based cervical screening is a new technique to increase the rate of pickup of pre-cancer cells, leading to a reduction of screened patients' progression to invasive cancer-£10,000 for first year equipment rental.

Three ergonomic motorised screening microscopes, one with teaching head, to reduce the risk of error by experienced staff,some of whom suffer with arthritis of their fingers through constant finger/thumb movements whilst testing for pre-cancer cells on 20 year old scopes- £20,000.

Replacement of ultrasound bladder scanner and flow meter for outpatient one-step assessment of suspected prostrate cancer-£10,000.

Haematology Research Fund

The Haematology research unit at Pembury has, for the last 17 years, been involved in improving chemotherapy treatment and reducing the sometimes gruelling side effects. This is done by studying the patient's blood and matching the prescribed drug and its dosage for optimum effect. It is one of only three units in the UK doing this work. The unit, although part of the NHS, has been supported by independent funding, which in these hard times is coming to an end. The League is distressed at the news of its impending closure, not only for the end of its work, but the League has over the last few years purchased over £100,000 worth of very specialised state-of-the-art equipment, which has enabled Pembury to remain at the forefront of this speciality.

We have been assured that this equipment will be retained at Pembury for use in the Haematology Department, which has already been using the equipment to aid its treatments.

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