Richard Dimbleby Cancer Fund

Motivated by the need to improve cancer care

The charity was founded in 1966 following the untimely death at 52, from cancer, of Richard Dimbleby, one of Britain’s best loved broadcasters.

Richard contracted cancer at a time when its mere mention was a taboo. His decision to go public did a huge amount to challenge and overcome that taboo. Richard’s early death shocked the nation. They wanted to mark their respect in some way, so Richard’s widow, Dilys, suggested they should send donations with which to set up a charity to support people with cancer. The response was huge, and thus the Richard Dimbleby Cancer Fund was established. In 2005 the charity adopted the working name Dimbleby Cancer Care and the work at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London continues under this name today, now fully under the care of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ Trust.

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One of the charity’s first acts was to endow a chair in cancer research at King’s College London. the current incumbent, Professor Tony Ng, leads a research team which is one of only a few in the world which is using advanced tissue imaging techniques to develop methods of pinpointing the most effective drug treatments for each individual cancer patient. In September 2021 they announced an exciting new partnership with GSK to use artificial intelligence to develop personalised treatments for cancer by investigating the role played by genetics in the disease – click here to find out more.

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However, the main focus of The Richard Dimbleby Cancer Fund is the care and support needs of people with cancer, and those of their families and carers. Over decades it has worked closely with staff at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals in London and through that work has evolved the Dimbleby Cancer Care information and support services. These offer practical and psychological support as well as complementary therapies with centres at Guy’s Cancer Centre and the Dimbleby Macmillan Support Centre at Queen Mary’s Sidcup. Following an Endowment of £2million to Guy’s Cancer Centre in 2013, in 2019 the charity made a further Major Gift to the Trust, and licensed the use of the Dimbleby Cancer Care name for the services which continue to be run today by the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust.

In the same vein, since 2005, the Dimbleby Cancer Care Research Fund has provided up to £500,000 a year for national research into the care needs of cancer patients and their families, and how best these needs can be met.

From 2012 to 2019, the charity established a series of successful fundraising events including The World’s Greatest Quiz, an annual Carol Services in Bermondsey, and a 50km overnight walking challenge called Walk50 to support the work of Dimbleby Cancer Care at Guy’s Cancer.

Alongside this, in 2018 the charity launched the online directory of cancer care services: Cancer Care Map. The directory is the first of its kind bringing together support organisations from across the country. It is the UK’s only fully independent, comprehensive and free to use service enabling anyone affected by cancer to find out what is available to them in terms of care and support.

The current focus of The Richard Dimbleby Cancer Fund is the development and growth of Cancer Care Map, working closely with all the other major UK cancer charities, support organisations and NHS England.

Policies

The following  operational policies of The Richard Dimbleby Cancer Fund are available on request:

Complaints

Data Protection

Grievance

People & Diversity

Safeguarding

Volunteering

Whistleblowing

Conflicts of Interest