SELBCT .

Chairman’s Report 2021

Whilst the last 12 months has been a quieter period for the charity, it is pleasing that we have still seen fundraising continue, supported our local hospital with further items of innovative equipment and maintained contact with local patients through our support group. Thank you to our trustees and all our supporters for making this possible through these difficult times.

Fund Raising

In the last year we were able to raise net income of £22,221 after the costs of hosting our events that were still able to continue and after the purchase of items for sale. Expenses were again kept to a minimum with our website being updated and none of our trustees or supporters taking any recompense or expenses. It was pleasing that in May we were still able to host what was our most successful Golf Day and overall, the income we were able to generate including some generous donations delivered a credible outcome. This is testament to how well we are supported and how valued our activities are by the local community.

Unfortunately, our annual Pink Ball was cancelled last year and for this year we also took the difficult decision not to hold the Ball given the likely unease our supporters might have felt attending such a busy event. Holding a scaled down version just did not feel like something we wanted to do given the excellent atmosphere and enjoyment the Pink Ball always generates. We have the date in the diary for next year being 14th October 2022.

In the meantime, our 100 Club continues where new members are welcome and our 2022 Calendar has just gone on sale via SELBCT on Etsy and I hope that both initiatives will be well supported as we look to deliver important initiatives in the year ahead.

Patient Support

Whilst it has not been possible to hold our regular face to face Patient Support Group meetings over the last 12-months, regular Zoom meetings have been held and I know that trustees have been in contact with some of the attendees. Hopefully, we are not too far away from holding our larger face to face meetings again when everyone feels save to do so.

In terms of spending the funds we have raised towards improving patient care, after a busy 2020 we competed the purchase of two Scout Radar Localisation machines that are assisting in more accurate and efficient surgery for certain tumours. Pleasingly, we were again able to negotiate a substantial discount with the manufacturers who were keen to see the equipment in use in an NHS setting. This initiative had been proposed by Mr Sinha the Medical Director at the Princess Royal University Hospital and the lead consultant of the Breast Cancer team who sadly passed away. Mr Sinha was a great supporter of our charity and is greatly missed.

The original lymph node analyser we purchased several years ago has recently been replaced by the manufactures at nil cost and it is therefore really pleasing that the c. £100,000 donated for this project is still supporting patient care. It was really pleasing to hear recently from the current lead consultant, just how valuable this equipment is along with the Scout machines and vacuum biopsy equipment in providing such high levels of care for local patients.

We continue to work with the local Trust in terms of proposals to supply further analytical equipment and to continue the counselling service for patients as they go through and complete their treatment given the very positive the feedback we have received. These initiatives all help to ensure patients can obtain the best treatment possible locally.

Please keep up to date with what we are doing and how you might help us via our website at SELBCT.org and I hope everyone is able to keep safe.

Miles Bullock

Chair

South East London Breast Cancer Trust.