Between 60 – 70 children in Northern Ireland are diagnosed with cancer each year.
Every one of them will visit the Children’s Cancer Unit throughout their journey, as it is the only place in Northern Ireland where children
can receive specialist treatment for cancer.
Here, children affected by cancer and blood disorders are treated and cared for by a team of experienced and devoted medical professionals and staff.
The Children’s Cancer Unit is part of a global network which facilitates crucial clinical trials with the objective of improving survival rates, and the quality of that survival, for children affected by these dreadful disorders.
The mission statement of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology is ‘No child should die of Cancer’, a vision that the Children’s Cancer Unit in Belfast embraces.
In recent years we have:
Learn more about us by watching our video:
The Children’s Cancer Unit Charity is committed to providing ongoing support to the Unit. It does this in a number of ways.
As in the early days, the CCUC provides additional funding for staffing. Posts funded by the charity include a dedicated Play Specialist at the Outpatients Clinic, a Practice Educator, Data Manager and an Assistant Child Psychologist.
With the guidance of the medical professionals, the Charity also purchases essential equipment for the unit when needed.
As well as contributing £300,000 to a charity-funded MRI scanner and paying for a new ultrasound scanner for the children’s hospital, the ‘CCURelaxIt’ App was also developed thanks to CCUC funding. This piece of software helps prepare children for daunting procedures in a non-invasive way and has already become a vital tool for our Play Specialists.
We are proud to have built the original eight bedded Unit back in 1987. Since then, the CCUC has extended it by constructing a further two isolation rooms – increasing the capacity at the Unit by two more beds.
The CCUC continues to upgrade and improve other areas of the Unit through renovations and redecoration, creating a more welcoming and pleasant place for our patients.
A vital part of our work is to fund important research and promote ongoing training. This means that our medical team is up-to-date on the latest medical and technological advances in childhood cancer care and are at the forefront of new innovative treatments.
As well as funding a Research Nurse, we send our team to global conferences and seminars every year to participate in discussions and to share knowledge with their peers around the world.
In collaboration with four other charities, the CCUC established a new Teenagers and Young Adults Cancer Service which saw an enhanced and regional support network, consisting of specialist nurses and social workers, brought to more young people. This ensures that teenagers and young adults affected by cancer can avail of specialist, age-appropriate care, wherever they are in Northern Ireland.
The Children’s Cancer Unit Charity’s mission is to support the work of the existing unit and staff at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in providing care for children with cancer and blood disorders.
A longer term objective of the Charity is to achieve a dedicated Haematology and Oncology Unit for children at the new children’s hospital planned for Northern Ireland in the next 5-7 years. This will ensure a sharp focus on facilities and treatment for patients and for high level research into cancer and blood disorders.
Founded in 1984, The Children’s Cancer Unit Charity (CCUC) was established to raise the necessary funds to build a dedicated Children’s
Cancer & Haematology Unit at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children.
At that time, children diagnosed with cancer and complex blood disorders were treated alongside patients with other, potentially contagious and infectious, conditions – an arrangement that was far from suitable due to many risks.
On 23rd October 1987, the Children’s Cancer Unit opened its doors, thanks to the dedication and determination of our founding members and supporters.
The CCUC continues to support the vital work of the Children’s Cancer Unit, as well as the children who are treated there and their families.
In 2014 the NICCUF was rebranded as the Children’s Cancer Unit Charity.
The Children’s Cancer Unit Charity is a registered charity formed and run by local people. It depends on donations to support the work of medical and nursing professionals at the Children’s Cancer and Haematology Unit in the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. The Charity is led by a Board of Trustees drawn from the Northern Ireland community. They are:
Felix Mooney is Chief Executive of the Mooney Hotel Group, which owns the Wellington Park Hotel in Belfast and the Armagh City Hotel. He has been a trustee of the Children’s Cancer Unit Fund since 2008 and took over the role as chairman of the trustees in 2014. Mr Mooney is a former President of the Hospitality Association of Ireland and a Director of Extra Care. In 2003 he was awarded an OBE for his services to the tourist and hospitality industries.
Dr Anthony McCarthy is a Consultant Paediatric Oncologist in the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. He was appointed in April 2000 and since then has taken the lead in the management of all children diagnosed with solid tumours under the age of 16 years. He has been lead clinician of the Children’s Haematology Unit and trustee of the Northern Ireland Children’s Cancer Unit Fund since 2008.
Laurie Jones is another of the founders of the Northern Ireland Children’s Cancer Unit Fund who played a key role in raising funds to build, equip and staff the facility at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. A qualified paediatric nurse, she saw the need for such a facility from helping to treat children and young people with cancer.
Sheila Ferguson is one of the founders of the Northern Ireland Children’s Cancer Unit Fund at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children. She was driven to help to set up the unit as a concerned parent who saw the need for a dedicated facility which focused on the specific needs of young children with cancer. Her objective in helping to spearhead the fundraising for the unit was to ensure that children in Northern Ireland had access to facilities and treatment on a par with those in other UK regions.
The Children’s Cancer Unit Charity is a Company Limited by Guarantee and registered in Northern Ireland. HMRC Registration Number NIC104794.