Clair Dade: Mid and South Essex Hospitals Charity

Today’s speaker was Clair Dade, who has spoken to us a number of times before as CEO of Chelmsford Community Transport. On this occasion she spoke on behalf of the Mid & South Essex Hospitals Charity. The charity started in April 2020, after the Mid Essex and the Southend NHS Foundation Trusts merged to form the Mid & South Essex NHS Foundation Trust. It exists to support both staff and patients and to improve the hospital environment beyond what the NHS is able to provide and works closely with hospitals’ Leagues of Friends and other partner organisations. Its recent projects include the provision of murals in the Children’s Ward and the Children’s Fracture Clinic at Broomfield Hospital.

Currently its major project is the Spotlight Radiotherapy Appeal to raise £600,000 to purchase three Surface Guided Radiotherapy (“SGRT”) systems for the Foundation Trust’s Cancer Centre at Southend Hospital. SGRT is a non-invasive system which closely tracks the patient’s movements during radiotherapy, making sure the radiation reaches precisely the right place without damaging vital organs.

The Charity raises funds in various ways, including donations from individuals and other organisations, fund-raising events, standing orders from supporters and money recovered from the governmental through Gift Aid.