Trustee appointments were, and still remain, honorary unpaid voluntary offices as they believe donations should be primarily spent on providing equipment, training and healthcare education, so benefitting the community. The various administration tasks are carried out by the Trustees and their small band of helpers, so no professional fundraisers are employed.
Our History
To celebrate the Millennium, businessman Robert Lewis headed a committee in Eastbourne to raise funds for the local hospital. Following this success, he learned of the need for a Holmium Laser machine at that hospital, so he decided to establish a charity to meet that need. When Medi Tech Trust was founded in 2002, Robert Lewis invited Consultant Urologist Graham Watson and John Evans to become Founding Trustees.
The Founding Trustees – Bob Lewis, Graham Watson and John Evans – with the first Holmium Laser to be used in the UK.
Thanks to many generous donations received from fraternal organisations and businesses in Sussex, two more lasers were donated to Worthing and Chichester hospitals in following years.
Enquiries increased considerably after the charity’s formation, enabling the Trustees to donate medical equipment to various Sussex hospitals. All items of medical equipment are donated on a permanent loan basis so that they are still technically ‘owned’ by the charity and cannot be disposed of unwittingly.
When John Evans resigned after moving to Wales in 2007, Jonathan Payne readily agreed to assume the office of Treasurer. In 2011, an additional objective of the charity to provide or assist in providing training to enable medical staff to operate equipment provided, was permitted by the Charity Commission.
Medi Tech Trust changed its Charity Commission status from an Unincorporated Trust to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation [CIO] in 2014. It also added a third objective – the provision of lectures, fora and newsletters devoted to advancing the education of the community in health care.
Sandra Lewis and Caroline Watson were appointed as Trustees in 2019 in recognition of their long and involved service and to help further develop the charity.
In the Queen’s Birthday Honours announced on 2 June 2021, Medi Tech Trust was awarded the highest honour a volunteer group can receive – The Queens Award for Voluntary Service – which is the MBE for Voluntary Groups. The charity also received a Special Designation to this prestigious Award for providing impactful support to the community in response to the pandemic.
In May 2023, Bob Lewis, Founder and Joint Chairman of Medi Tech Trust, was recognised as one of the 500 outstanding volunteers in the UK for his contribution to the community and was crowned a Coronation Champion.
On 11 October 2023, co-Chair Graham Watson received the Albert Schweitzer International Teaching Award, which is only given to one Urologist in the world each year. This prestigious global award is the highest accolade given for global training!
At the end of March 2021, our charity permanently moved into business premises in Hailsham to consolidate its ongoing activities and to prepare for the launch of its global project MEDIGIVE.
To ensure the project’s success for the foreseeable future, the names and logos for both Medi Tech Trust and Medigive have been legally trade mark registered with the Intellectual Property Office.
