Chairman’s Report 2019
2019 has been another positive year for the charity given the funds raised, the progress in providing financial support towards the various projects we have been looking to implement and the continued success of our Patient Support Group.
Thank you to the trustees and our supporters for making this all possible.

Fund Raising
In the last year we were able to raise net income of £28,561 after the costs of hosting our various events and purchasing items for sale. Expenses were again kept to c. 2% of net income given none of our trustees or supporters take any recompense or expenses.

Again, we hosted some very successful events the main ones being our annual Pink Ball where we raised a record amount and another very successful golf day. Thank you also to the all individuals and small groups who continue to support our charity with fund raising events and donations.
The effort that the trustees and volunteers put in to organising these events year on year is certainly impressive and I hope that they all continue to benefit from the camaraderie and support that comes from being involved with the charity.

Patient Support
Again, it is pleasing to report that the regular Patient Support Group meetings are increasingly well attended with 75 individuals on our mailing list and up to 30 attending the monthly meetings. For me this remains the most important of our activities. There are interesting presentations at most meetings and those attending clearly value the support they get from interacting with each other. Thank you to the organisers that ensure momentum is maintained.

In terms of allocating the funds we have raised towards improving patient care, we have seen recent progress.
The initiative in terms of the provision of surgery for lymphedema with the acquisition of a Fluoptic scanner has now progressed. The equipment has been purchased and whilst this happened after the end of the 2018/9 financial year,
we have just paid the invoice for £45,000. We look forward to hearing about how the service is being delivered and the benefits for patients via local clinics.

Last year the trustees agreed to fund a counselling service locally for patients as they go through and complete their treatment and I am pleased to say that this service was rolled out during the year. The feedback has been very positive from the staff at the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH) in Farnborough. We hope that by providing this initial funding that in time the NHS will agree that this is a service they should support in the future.

Over the last few years we have been keen to support the purchase of vacuum biopsy equipment that would enhance the capabilities at the PRUH in terms of accurate diagnoses and bring their unit up to the gold standard seen in major hospitals. During the year we believe that progress has been made for this offering to be put in place and it is hoped matters will complete in the coming months.

Please keep up to date with what we are doing and how you might help us via our website at

SELBCT.org.
Miles Bullock
Chair
South East London Breast Cancer Trust.