A GENEROUS family donated more than £600 to a hospital ward in memory of a loved one.

Patients in the haematology day unit at Basildon Hospital are benefiting from a new microwave, mugs and magazines.

Carol Adams, 54, from Benfleet, wanted to raise money as a way of giving something back to the ward where her dad Roy Morgan, 81, was cared for.

He died in April last year after battling complicated bone marrow disorder, hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia, for 60 years.

The rare condition, which only one in 5,000 people have, required regular blood transfusions.

Mrs Adams said: “The donation is a reflection of the excellent care my dad was given.

“The nurses were always so kind and I wanted to give something back.

“They treated him here for many years.

“He was such a lovely man and I always felt the staff on the unit knew that.

“They had a great affection for him.”

She raised the cash thanks to the help of her dad’s neighbour Helen Osborne, 57, with the pair going door to door in the streets around his Basildon home asking for donations.

Katrina Maitland, matron on the unit, said: “When Carol told me she wanted to make a donation, I gave her a list of things that would make patients’ lives a bit more comfortable.

“This is really going to help us out and it will make a big difference to the morale of staff, as well as the comfort of patients.”