A FLATSCREEN TV and a DVD player have been stolen from a cancer ward at Essex County Hospital.
Both items had been bought with donations from patients who had been treated on Jefferson Ward and their family and friends.
The theft from the ward dayroom was branded as “despicable” by Donna Booton, Macmillan Lead Cancer Nurse and Matron for Essex County Hospital.
“Unlike Colchester General Hospital, we don’t have TVs at every bedside and patients on Jefferson and their families like to gather in the dayroom to watch telly and chat,” she said.
“When I heard about the theft, I couldn’t believe it – nothing like this has ever happened before. It’s despicable.”
The theft was discovered at 9am on Wednesday by the ward clerk on Jefferson Ward, which has 16 beds for cancer inpatients.
The TV had been bought at the beginning of the year for about �300 and the DVD player some time before that.
Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Essex County Hospital, has reported the theft to Essex police.
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