Q&A with my local Macmillan Service

I give 5% of all my online sales proceeds to my local Macmillan service in Midhurst, West Sussex. The small green receipt acknowledging this in the photo gives me a great sense of achievement each year & is a large part of why I love running my business. Having donated quite a few thousand pounds to them over the years I thought it would be a good time to find out a bit more about who they are and what they do and share it here. I asked Jo Stuttaford to answer a few questions which she was kind enough to do…

• Tell me a bit about what Midhurst Macmillan Service Palliative care team do on a day to day basis & how they support patients in the area.
The Midhurst Macmillan Service is a specialist palliative care service offering advice and care to patients with cancer and other life limiting illnesses.

• What is the geographical area you cover & which hospitals are you patients under the care of?
The service covers 400sq miles crossing three counties. Most of the patients are treated from the Royal Surrey Hospital, St Richard’s Hospital or the Queen Alexander Hospital in Portsmouth.

• How is the service funded?
The Service is funded by the NHS and charitable arm – Midhurst Palliative Care.

• What will my contribution be used for?
Your contribution will help with the day to day running of the service and the future development of the service.

• Is there any one piece of equipment you are in need of?
We always like to purchase specialist mouthcare kits for our patients.

• Is it true that the Macmillan charity shop in Midhurst is the only one in the country?
Yes it is true that it is the only Macmillan Shop in the country. However, our new charity is going to take over the shop in Midhurst which we are very excited about.

• What is the most common type of cancer that you are caring for amongst your patients would you say?
Difficult question. We see a lot of patients with brain tumours, breast cancer and colorectal cancer.

• Do you have any hospital beds at Midhurst Community Hospital?
No sadly the community hospital has now closed.

• Do you only treat cancer patients?
No, we treat patients with other life-limiting illnesses such as Heart Failure, MND and other neurological illnesses. About 75% have cancer and 25% have other illnesses.