Thanks to the wonderful support of the public, Ark Cancer Centre Charity has so far raised nearly £2.5million – a tremendous, and humbling, achievement – and if you want to read more about the many, many people who have played a part in this fundraising journey so far, please check out Ark’s website at arkcancercharity.org.uk
The vast majority of the funds raised so far have come from individual and collective fundraisers and donations – and the Ark Day campaign, which in its debut year raised more than £32,000, has provided a new opportunity for even more people to get involved and make a difference.
The Ark charity’s motto is ‘For the people, by the people’ and local people have really shown that they support the HHFT cancer treatment centre project, and they want it to be built.
From the outset, the aspiration was to build the new cancer treatment centre alongside a new HHFT Critical Treatment Hospital (CTH) on land near to Junction 7 of the M3 on the outskirts of Basingstoke. This would have put the new hospital and cancer centre in the middle of the HHFT area, making both easily accessible to all of our residents.
While the Junction 7 location was the preferred option, all involved in the cancer treatment centre project always stated that if this did not prove to be achievable, we would proceed with exploring an alternative location.
In November 2017, after a long-running review process involving various health providing partners, the local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) announced that, at this time, they did not want to go to consultation on plans to build the CTH.
The decision of the CCGs was disappointing for HHFT and Ark Cancer Centre Charity. However, Alex Whitfield, chief executive of HHFT, confirmed that the cancer treatment centre will still go ahead, and stated the cancer treatment centre project is one of the trust’s priorities.
Since the November 2017 decision, everyone involved in the cancer treatment centre project has been working on progressing our alternative option plans which will see the new cancer treatment centre located on the Basingstoke hospital site.
Good progress is being made and I am confident that there will be significant developments in 2020. I am also in no doubt that Ark Cancer Centre Charity and its supporters will continue to play a key role in delivering the new centre – one that will make a massive difference to the lives of many local cancer patients and their loved ones.
Thank you for supporting Ark Day and Ark’s £5m campaign. We have one goal, and one vision. Let’s get this cancer treatment centre built!