A CHARITY which has raised almost £1m to help patients in Huddersfield will come to an end.
Trustees of the Breast Clinic Appeal, formed in 1989, have decided to wind up the charity because of a “lack of confidence” in health managers in the town.
But they are going out in style – presenting a £50,000 scanner to the radiology department at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.
Fittingly, among those at the presentation was Bill Exley, who founded the charity almost 30 years ago.
The new equipment, along with a cooling system for the scanning room, will not only boost the number of patients who can be treated, but will also improve the quality.
Charity trustees will decide how to allocate the remaining money they have in the appeal fund, thought to be thousands of pounds.
Appeal chairman John Woodhead said: “We have raised almost £1m for patients at the Infirmary, but have decided the time is now right to scale down our activities.
“The decision by the trustees has been a reluctant one, but has been taken as a result of a lack of confidence in local health service managers.
“We were particularly upset at the decision to close the Exley Breast Unit at the Infirmary.
“We had set up the charity to help people in Huddersfield and it has been supported by the people of Huddersfield and the Examiner.
“A statement will be issued later in the year giving more details behind our decision and detailing what will happen to the rest of the money the charity possesses
“I want to make it clear that we have had a close and excellent relationship with Dr Narendra Jain and his staff and it is just a sad day.”
Dr Jain welcomed the help given by the Appeal over the years and said it was a sad decision.
He said: “The appeal part-funded a previous scanner which helped us treat more patients in Huddersfield rather than sending them to Halifax.
“The new equipment means we can double the number of patients we help and, more importantly, treat them on the same days as they see a specialist rather than having them wait several days.”
