Easington’s East End Cancer Relief Charity (EECR) has donated £9,600 worth of equipment to the Queen’s Centre for Oncology and Haematology at Castle Hill Hospital.

EECR have provided eight ambulatory syringe drivers to be used by palliative care nursing staff, who set the equipment for the patient to deliver a continuous infusion of up to four medications at a time over a 24 hour period. The syringe drivers enable patients to be discharged early from hospital and ensure they do not have a break in their medications when returning home.

Due to the small and portable nature of the drivers, they make a life-changing difference to cancer patients. Giving them the freedom and independence to participate in everyday family life, making precious memories with loved ones, whilst taking care of their physical symptoms. Recently, a syringe driver was used to enable a lady in hospital to attend her sister’s wedding comfortably and pain-free, to a Teenage and Young Adult Cancer patient, who attended a festival.

The East End Cancer Relief’s trustees, Charlotte James, Lisa Pryor, Michelle Olive and Andrea Robinson, brought members of their local community together by organising an array of events and activities including, Welwick Wheelers bike ride, craft fairs, raffles and a Country and Western night to raise the funds.

Trustee, Andrea Robinson 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 have 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 are now planning further activities and will be working alongside the Hospital’s WISHH Charity to identify further areas they can support.

Notes for Editors
The East End Cancer Relief (EECR) was originally set up in the late 1970’s and over the years has raised £190,000.00. Since May 2023 EECR became a registered charity with the Trustees Lisa Pryor, Andrea Robinson taking the reins, and more recently Michelle Olive and Charlotte James have joined the board.

The aim of the East End Cancer Relief Charity (EECR) is to raise funds for the Queens Centre, Castle Hill Hospital Cancer Wards by providing or assisting in the provision of equipment, facilities and services not normally provided by the statutory authorities, ancillary to those provided by the doctors by holding events throughout the year.

The event include Welwick Bike Ride, Pub Quiz’s, Auctions, Craft fairs, Christmas Parties and Tabletop Sales.

Through these events we have raised £25,425.39 for the 2 financial years 2023/24 & 2024/25 which has been spent on purchasing medical body composition analyser scales, furniture for the relative’s rooms and syringe drivers for the Queens Centre.

We are immensely proud to be able to provide support in this way and special thanks to everyone who has helped at the events, everyone who has donated either money or goods to contribute to the incredible amount raised, every penny helps.