Brain tumour charities merge amid increasing demand due to Covid-19

Two health charities are to merge citing increasing demand due to Covid-19 as a key factor.

The brain tumour specialist charities The Brain Tumour Charity and MeningiomaUK say the merger has been “accelerated by the impact of Covid-19, which has seen demand for support services soar.

They say it also comes amid increasing consolidation in a brain tumour sector that has been “historically populated with small charities, many of them founder-led”.

The Brain Tumour Charity is seven years old and has a £11m annual income and spending of £13.2m, according to accounts for the year ending March 2019 filed with the Charity Commission.

The charity has already been subject to consolidation, being created out of a merger between the Samantha Dickson Brain Tumour Trust, the Joseph Foote Trust and Brain Tumour UK.

Meanwhile MeningiomaUK was founded in 1998 by Emma Pybus and the late Dr Caroline Rutgers, who had both been diagnosed with meningioma, which develops in the area around the brain the spinal cord.

Pybus said: “Our community was always at the heart of this decision. Together, with unified resource and vision, we will be able to support more of, and do more for, the thousands of families whose lives are shattered by a meningioma diagnosis.

“This merger will build on the successes of the two charities and create a stronger, more powerful voice for change in the future.”

Sarah Lindsell, chief executive of The Brain Tumour Charity, added: “This merger brings together two charities with huge mutual respect and a passionate commitment to the communities they serve.

“As more charities than ever face an uncertain future in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the need to unite in order to better serve our communities is clear.

“Joining forces will enable us to work more effectively for everyone affected by a meningioma and to accelerate progress towards the cure that is needed so urgently for everyone whose life has been changed by a brain tumour diagnosis.”

Among other health charities in the same specialist sector to merge this year are Pancreatic Cancer Action and Pancreatic Cancer Scotland.