The aim of the Trust is to improve the health and wellbeing of people connected with the Grampian Police force area, reducing social exclusion and encouraging good citizenship through empowerment.

The Trust chose UCAN as its nominated charity for 2012 after being impressed by the potential of its current campaign, to raise £2.5million for robotic-assisted surgical equipment.

The highly advanced equipment and two specially designed theatres would be the first in Scotland, and used to treat urological, gynaecological and colorectal patients. UCAN is spearheading the partnership campaign from its base at Ward 44 at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

We are delighted to report that the Care Centre raffle raised an amazing £203.68 the winning tickets were:-

Dixie: Food hamper
Mr and Mrs Kain: Xmas cake and bottle of Glenfiddich
Brenda (our ward domestic): Glenmorangie
Wendy (one of our secretaries): Champagne

Thanks to the Inverurie Group who donated the prizes and to all those who bought tickets.

The Herald political cartoonist Bill McArthur has raised over £300 for UCAN by selling one of his pieces at the Loft Gallery, St Margaret's Hope, Orkney.

Bill moved to Orkney in the late 70's were he became a fisherman, later providing the inspiration for his paintings of the sea.

Bill has been kind enough to donate the entire proceeds of the blind auction following his experience with UCAN at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

The leaflet gives contacts for each cancer charity and a brief description of how they can help. A poster has also been developed for display in GP surgeries, libraries etc.

Download this poster 

Download this poster

We'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in the production of the leaflet and hope people can help get them distributed and used.

The leaflet and posters will be displayed for a week at the Community Corner at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (week commencing 30th January 2012).

UCAN has recently completed an audit of the support that we offer to those who have been diagnosed with a urological cancer in the north-east of Scotland. This support includes our UCAN Cancer Care Centre, our online forum and our peer to peer support 'buddy' network.

The audit was extremely positive with the majority of those questioned feeling that they had benefited from using the UCAN Cancer Care Centre and receiving their diagnosis in a non-clinical environment. The audit demonstrated that there is a clear need for these services and that the UCAN Cancer Care Centre is a much valued facility and an important support.

The audit was undertaken with the support of the Clinical Effectiveness Team, NHS Grampian.

The audit report can be downloaded here:-

A major campaign has been launched to raise £2.5million for Scotland's first robotic surgical equipment, which will be used to treat patients at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.

The 'Transform Today's Surgery with Tomorrow's Technology' campaign is a partnership project led by UCAN and currently involves the urological, general surgery and gynaecological teams at ARI.

The robotic equipment will be particularly beneficial for patients with prostate, colorectal (bowel and rectal) and gynaecological cancers and non-malignant conditions, but has the potential to be used in other specialties such as cardiac and paediatric surgery.

Considered to be the future for surgical procedures, the robot is a powerful and highly advanced tool that enables precision surgery to be carried out in many more patients, speeding up operating times.