Each year the Pembroke Unit (ward and chemotherapy suite) at Salisbury District Hospital provides chemotherapy and other specialist treatment to over 2,000 local people with cancer and blood diseases.
The Stars Appeal works to support both these patients and other people being treated for cancer throughout the hospital.
How the Stars Appeal makes a difference:
- Investing in the very latest diagnostic and treatment equipment, for example scanners, Endobronchial Ultrasound (EBUS), scalp cooling machines, and high-definition videoscopes to diagnose suspected head and neck cancers.
- Aromatherapy to help relieve patients of the many difficult physical and emotional symptoms from their disease and treatments
- Wellbeing programmes for patients recovering from cancer treatments to help them get their lives back on track
- The building and ongoing enhancement of the Stars Appeal Breast Unit – the first ever dedicated Breast Unit at the Hospital
- Enhancing the Pembroke Unit environment with furnishings, décor and artwork to help make time spent there by patients more relaxing and as comfortable as possible
- Free hot and cold drinks for all chemotherapy and oncology outpatients
- Free headwear for patients who lose their hair
- Prehabilitation and projects which enable patients to have input from a wide range of clinical staff to help them prepare for surgery and treatment
- Funding additional roles to provide cancer therapy and support for patients
- Activities such as music, storytelling, dance, reading and playing games through our Stars Appeal Live project
- Companionship and social activities like trips away from the ward through our Stars Appeal Engagers
- Free Wi-Fi
- Stars Appeal water cooler and beverage trolley
- Accommodation for patients’ loved ones
- Visits from hospital Chaplains
- Supporting staff wellbeing and morale
- Specialist training and education to support healthcare staff in developing new practical skills to enhance the care of patients
Patient Story
“The aromatherapy made me feel pampered and me again at a time when I really was feeling anything but me”
“At my first chemotherapy treatment I was terrified, and my emotions were very much raised. The whole of the Pembroke Suite staff were amazing and kind, but I still couldn’t stop crying. It was towards the end of my first treatment that I met the wonderful Stars Appeal Aromatherapist. The aromatherapy really made me feel pampered and me again at a time when I really was feeling anything but me.”
“The Stars Appeal really has made the most amazing difference not just to me, but also my husband as we have gone through my cancer treatment. The Stars Appeal provide funding within the Pembroke Suite which has helped me in so many ways from the aromatherapy to the hot drinks and snacks whilst undergoing treatment each week, which are fantastic.”
Marie Gower, Winterslow
Patient Story
“This equipment is really important to me because the doctors can see any changes over time. Often it is quite subtle changes that show something is happening”
“I am so grateful to the Stars Appeal for funding these videoscopes. I am well used to this unpleasant procedure; however the new cameras make it so much more comfortable and for new patients they will significantly reduce the fear of having this procedure done. It was one of the most pleasant scoping experiences I’ve had in an unpleasant set of experiences.
“After my first treatment I was having them roughly once a month over four years. Sometimes it felt like going a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson and being punched in the nose. The new cameras made the procedure so much easier to manage.
“The unique nature of my cancer meant it kept coming and going so I always knew something was going to happen. This is why this equipment is really important to me because the doctors can see any changes over time. Often it is quite subtle changes that show something is happening.”
Throat cancer patient Peter Russell, Maiden Bradley