CLAN boost as NHS board to give £25,000

NHS Shetland is to give £25,000 to the CLAN 1,2,3 appeal, it was agreed at a board meeting on Tuesday.

The unprecedented award was seen by most members as being in line with NHS objectives, with member Sandy Cluness saying the public had supported the NHS “massively” in the case of the CT scanner.

However, director of medical services Ken Graham did not agree that the award met the health board’s criteria. He would endorse it if the CLAN centre was open to all patients, not just cancer patients, he said, and pointed out that “some prognoses are worse than cancer”.

Dr Graham moved that the award be refused but did not find a seconder. However, board chief executive Sandra Laurenson and chairwoman Betty Fullerton agreed to write to CLAN asking that if there was spare capacity at the centre it should be used by patients having treatment for other long-term conditions.