A PRIVATE healthcare provider with a hospital in Droitwich has recently donated vital funds to British Skin Foundation’s (BSF) research programme for the second year in a row.
Circle Health Group (CHG), who operates The Droitwich Spa Hospital, has gifted BSF’s skin research programme £10,000 to help develop better methods for early detection of deadly skin cancer and other conditions.
The healthcare group know two in three people in Worcestershire will suffer from a skin condition during their lifetime and are supporting BSF to tackle the issue.
Melanoma skin cancer is the fifth most common cancer for women and the fourth most common in the UK for men. and numbers of cases are rising. Projections from Cancer Research UK suggest there will be 26,500 new cases every year by 2040.
Between 2017 and 2019 new cases were much lower at around 8,600 for women and 8.900 for men. Last year’s donation from CHG is supporting an important melanoma project looking to develop better methods of melanoma detection.
Leeds Beckett University researcher, Dr Jaskaren Kohli, will be aiming to give healthcare professionals more tools to catch melanoma in its early stages, when it is easier to treat, and patients are more likely to survive.
He will look for better biomarkers in moles, black skin lesions which can develop into the deadly cancer if left unchecked. This research has the potential to improve the quality of life for patients not just in the UK, but worldwide in the future.
Adam Busby, group clinical director at Circle Health Group said: “We know first-hand the difference research like this can make to the lives of our patients.
“As a hospital operator, we are committed to supporting improvements in the understanding, research and treatment of skin conditions.”
British Skin Foundation CEO, Matthew Patey OBE spoke of the charity’s pride at playing a part in supporting future generations through their research.
He added: “Research is the core of what we do here at the BSF, but it doesn’t come cheap.
“Thanks to generous supporters like Circle Health Group, we can fund top quality research with some of the UK’s most talented scientists – finding the cures and treatments of the future.”
