WEST Midlands NHS Charities have come together to share the importance of what it means for supporters to leave a gift in their will.
Together, The Dudley Group NHS Charity, University Hospitals Birmingham Charity, University Hospitals North Midlands Charity, Worcester Acute Hospitals Charity and Your Trust Charity (Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust) spent over £7.5million supporting their NHS Trusts in areas over and above NHS funding.
This included everything from funding new facilities, research, cutting edge equipment, staff welfare and much more.
The five charities say a large proportion of this funding will have come through kind supporters who have left gifts in their wills and this week these charities are not only celebrating this but also asking if it might be something others can consider.
Geoff Heyes, consultant clinical scientist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, said: “Thanks to gifts in wills, the charity was able to provide a CyberKnife machine for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in 2013 and it remains the only one available for NHS treatment outside of London.
“The CyberKnife machine is a robotic system which uses high doses of radiation to sub-millimetre accuracy and has the ability to track the tumours position throughout the treatment.
“The CyberKnife machine is able to treat small well defined tumours located in traditionally difficult-to-reach parts of the body which if damaged would have devastating effects. It is commonly used to treat selected brain tumours and increasingly used to treat other tumours around the body.
“Over the last 10 years it has treated nearly 3,000 patients.”
Cathryn Worth, who has been working on the campaign, said people can leave as much or as little as they like.
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