Cancer charity donates £250,000 to Burnley hospital

A local cancer charity has donated £250,000 to East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) Burnley General Hospital to facilitate the purchase of a new endosonography machine.

The Olympus EVIS EUS is an advanced, state of the art, endoscopy scope with ultrasound technology. It accurately identifies stage cancer and aids with gaining tissue samples giving diagnoses accuracy and aids the appropriate surgery and chemotherapeutic intervention.

The funds have been raised by Cancer Assessment Rapid Early Support (CARES), a local cancer charity committed to purchasing preventative cancer equipment.

This is the organisation's third donation, and its largest to date. The official cheque presentation took place at a Labels for Cares (CARES’ fashion designer outlet) Ladies Day event attended by customers from the stores, ITV's weather star Jo Blythe (charity ambassador) and Lukman Patel (Burnley Council's new CEO) and Shelley Wright (director of communications at ELHT).

Jawad Husain, medical director at ELHT, said: "We are immensely grateful to the support of CARES. Every cancer diagnosis is devastating for patients and their families and everyone at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust is working each and every day to treat cancer as quickly as possible and save lives.

"This donation will help fund new equipment that will assist us in the detection and identification of cancer and help ensure patients receive appropriate treatment.”

The donation follows CARES’ donation in October 2020, which facilitated the purchase of two endoscopy machines for Burnley General Hospital.

Anthony Fairclough, co-founder of Labels for Cares, said: "Building on the success of the two existing machines that have scanned thousands of people in East Lancashire, this new addition underscores our commitment to providing swift results and leveraging cutting-edge technology.

"This wouldn’t be possible without our great customers, staff, supporters, donations that come from differing events like the recent climb of Mount Kilimanjaro by a supporter of the charity who raised over £10,000."