The Chartwell Cancer Trust, a local charity based in the London Borough of Bromley, has continued to grow and develop as a charity over this past year, continuing with their unbelievable support of Cancer and Leukemia sufferers at the Princess Royal University Hospital, the children’s cancer ward in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and finally their role in keeping the Chartwell Inpatient Ward.

After making £250,000 in 2015 through donations and fundraising, the charity is pleased to announce that they exceeded that figure in 2016, with the number believed to be around £300,000. This is a fantastic achievement and a step closer to reaching the £500,000 mark in the near future. Speaking to Michael Douglas, the founder of the charity, he said he was pleased to say that the popularity of the charity had greatly increased over this year due to the “doing it and doing it now” attitude in regards to the support the charity gives to patients, helping the people who need it most in an instant. The annual events that the charity organise, such as the Dragon Boat Race, the Sponsored Walk and the House of Commons dinner to name a few, are also successes: “supporters enjoy them, they know where the money they donate goes.”

Another one of the ways the charity has grown over the course of the year would be keeping hold of the Inpatient Ward at the Princess Royal University Hospital. The NHS in March were cutting costs and were under pressure, so they decided to cut the Chartwell unit – the Inpatients Ward at the hospital. Managed by the Kings College Hospital, they believed it was best suited for patients to be moved to this hospital instead. However, The Chartwell Cancer Trust strongly disagreed, it would be much harder for patients and the families too, therefore the charity launched a campaign, with street petitions and reports into the matter itself. The petitions gained a total of 10,000 signatures against the new idea proving that the Inpatients Ward is recognised as being known to be extremely beneficial and brilliant to the people and families that are involved.  Along with further meetings with the local MP, Jo Johnson, and with management at the King’s College Hospital, the Inpatients Ward was reconsidered to keep it going and assigned two more doctors and further support to the unit. This was a fantastic achievement for the charity; Natalie Reilly, who has worked for the charity for over eight years, told me, “ We were thrilled to learn that the Inpatient Unit is to remain open. It means so much to everyone, to us, the staff, patients and the local community.”

It has been a terrific year for the charity in summary, becoming more known across the community as an exceptional charity, with hard working trustees and dedicated supporters. The charity are extremely proud to be able to say they will be able to continue with the brilliant support provided to the patients and families affected in the forthcoming year.