Originally set up in 1995, The Primrose Appeal raised an amazing £500,000 which was match funded by the NHS to create The Primrose Breast Care Centre we know today - A state-of-the-art centre where highly skilled Breast Surgeons, Breast Radiologists, Breast Care Nurses, Radiographers & screening support workers all work together with an incredible administration team to provide a high-quality and efficient service that puts the patients at the heart of everything they do.

Annually we have grown in strength, but our objectives have remained the same https://www.primrosefoundation.org/our-vision.

Our mission continues to be:

  • Increase awareness of all breast diseases including breast cancer and help educate and empower our communities on breast health.

  • To support local people affected by breast cancer to bring comfort & support

  • To support the work of the Primrose Breast Care Centre, its staff and services.

While we share a name similar to The Primrose Breast Care Centre at University Hospitals Plymouth, we are not one entity. The Primrose Breast Care Centre is funded by the NHS, and our charity provides additional financial support.

So far, in 30 years The Primrose Foundation has raised over £1.8 million to enhance the facilities and services provided by both The Primrose Breast Care Centre & other essential services a patient may need whilst on the breast care pathway.

We are a local breast care charity that is supported by local people, for local people. We Provide grant funding to help aid our local breast care services, their staff and those affected by breast cancer living locally.

We do this to improve patient care as well as provide comfort and support when it is needed most to those affected by breast cancer.

Thanks to the support of local people and businesses we have funded and continue to fund large and small projects, our most recent projects include:

  • Wig vouchers

  • Hardship grants

  • Breast screening incentive scheme

  • Online Support Directory

All the above projects require ongoing support therefore whether you have been affected by breast cancer or just have a passion for making a difference support of our charity is vital.

But what sets us apart from other breast cancer charities we hear you ask.

  1. We connect, communicate and work with the very staff that see and treat patients at The Primrose Breast Care Centre.

  2. We allow Primrose Centre staff to apply for service improvement grant funding– this can be anything from equipment and resources to staff training and more.

  3. We pride ourselves on our communication with our fundraisers and believe our supporters should have a say in service improvements.

  4. We send out regular updates on where donations go.

  5. We believe in providing bespoke fundraising support to everyone who supports us.

  6. All donations are acknowledged as we believe it is important to say thank you.

  7. We provide grant funding to local people affected by breast cancer – including hardship and wig grant funding.

  8. We are always looking at new ways to help, support and add comfort at a difficult time.

We’re always happy to hear from patients that the Primrose Breast Care Centre feels homely, safe, bright and secure and we intend to keep it that way! With that in mind, we will continue to build on our achievements and remain at the forefront of treatment, care and support. Working in partnership with NHS staff, we are determined to make a significant difference to the future of breast care.

 

A Brief History of The Primrose Foundation

1995

The Primrose Foundation was launched in 1995 by two surgeons and a radiologist who worked at (the then named) Derriford Hospital - Colin Teasdale, Roger Watkins and Pam Jones. 

At the time, breast clinics were held in the hospital’s general outpatients on the ground floor. So when women visited with a breast symptom, they would have to get dressed and undressed on multiple occasions to travel around to different areas of the hospital for their examinations, x-raysand biopsies. During such an emotional time in a person’s life, it didn’t feel right that they had to go through added stress, which often resulted in some patients feeling anxious and vulnerable.

The trio wanted to open a specialist ‘one stop clinic’ at Derriford Hospital, which would provide all the facilities needed to offer effective breast screening, biopsy, counselling and nursing support under one roof, whilst ultimately bringing together the surgical, radiology and breast care nursing teams and thus, the idea for The Primrose Breast Care Centre was born.

1997

The huge sum of £500,000 needed to be raised to fund so in 1997, an appeal was launched by the charity’s first Chair of the Trustees, Dame Margaret Fry, to raise those funds. Through a dedicated fundraising committee, the target was achieved quickly, all thanks to the hard work and generosity shown by fundraisers across the South West.

 
 

2001

Incredibly, Plymouth Hospital Trust matched the money raised and the Primrose Breast Care Centre officially opened its doors for the first time on 19th April 2001 (Primrose Day).

To this day, our heartfelt thanks goes out to all those who were involved as the centre wouldn’t exist today without their dedication and many families across the South West would not have had access to the cutting edge treatment and care that Primrose Breast Care Centre now provides.

2020

We celebrated 25 years of supporting breast care services at University Hospitals Plymouth!

2025

To enable growth and development in January 2025 our charity moved to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) with the new charity number 1210698.