Not long before the transfer of the Hampstead-based Marie Curie Hospital to the NHS, a group of committee members from the hospital decided to preserve the name of Marie Curie in the charitable medical field.
This was the beginning of the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation - a charity dedicated to alleviating suffering from cancer - and today known as Marie Curie Cancer Care.
Following the donation of an engagement ring to help raise funds for the charity, the very first appeal was launched and brought in a substantial £4,000. By 1950 the ongoing appeal had raised a staggering £30,000 and in 1952 the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation officially became a charity - Number 207994.
The concept of a cancer charity in Marie Curie's honour had been realised and the money was coming in. What the Foundation needed now was a comprehensive strategy to take the dream forward and the best way of achieving this was to look at where the gaps in cancer care were.
Thus an extensive nationwide survey was under-taken to help identify the needs in the medical field, nursing and research in relation to cancer; the results of which formed the basis of the work of the Foundation and, largely, still do today:
- providing specialist homes for the care of cancer patients
- providing nursing for patients at home
- educating the public on the symptoms and treatment of cancer
- providing urgent welfare needs.
At the time these ideas were quite revolutionary and the Marie Curie Foundation quickly established itself as a leader in the field of improving facilities for cancer patients in the community setting.
In December 1952 the first Marie Curie hospice opened in the Hill of Tarvit at Cupar in Scotland, followed over the next 13 years by a further nine around the UK.
In recent years, the charity has invested heavily in refurbishing or relocating several of its hospices, including those in Liverpool and Newcastle. Most recently, Marie Curie Cancer Care opened a new centre in Bradford - built at a cost of more than £5.2m.
Marie Curie Cancer Care is now recognised as a leading provider of specialist palliative care in the UK.
The nursing service, which began as a small pilot scheme in the early 1950s in London, steadily extended its coverage to include the rest of the UK, initially financed by the Foundation. This changed in the 1970s when community care became an NHS responsibility and funding was eventually split 50:50 between the Foundation and the NHS.
In 1958/9, the charity's 26 nurses cared for 88 patients. By 1983/4 the number of patients cared for at home had risen to 6,785, still a far cry from today's 15,000 plus.
In 1961 - after careful consideration over the best direction for scientific research at the Foundation - a clinical laboratory opened initially in Caterham, close to the hospice already there, but expanded quickly and needed bigger premises. The Research Institute - as it became known in the early 1980s - then moved to Oxted in Surrey and where today it remains at the forefront of pioneering research.
In 1999 the charity set up the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research and Development Unit to tackle issues around people dying from cancer, how their quality of life is affected and how it can be improved. The Unit is based at the Royal Free Hospital, London and in 2004; it was joined by the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute, in Liverpool.
In March 2004 Marie Curie Cancer Care launched its biggest ever policy campaign – Supporting the Choice to Die at Home. Home is where the majority of people would prefer to end their lives and the charity wants to see better planning and more appropriate care for terminally ill people, so fewer are admitted to hospital in a crisis.
Marie Curie Cancer Care will continue to press Government on this important issue.
