A terminally ill former Wycombe Wanderers player has set up a charity to provide support and advice for doctors and patients.

Howard Kennedy was told in June last year the prostate cancer he had been receiving treatment for was terminal and that he had three years to live.

But the manner in which the news was broken left him and his family in even greater distress.

It prompted Mr Kennedy, who played more than 400 times for Wanderers in the 1970s, to set up The Patients' Trust to improve the level of care and support provided by doctors.

Mr Kennedy, who lives in Farnham Common, said the three aims of the charity were to educate, support people and campaign.

He said: "The education is working in partnership with consultants to provide a level of consistency in patient care.

"It's to provide support to seriously ill patients. It covers a vast breadth of things we can do to improve the quality of life.

"The campaigning is to create local initiatives working with doctors in hospitals to improve the quality of patient experience."

He added: "I'm a great fan of the NHS - this isn't about confronting the NHS, it's about understanding that doctors have a tough job and providing them with support.

"The majority of my experiences were of outstanding care and outstanding expertise, but there were one or two experiences that were unacceptable.

"You have a choice of whether you get angry and go to litigation, or work with people to make sure you improve and make sure it doesn't happen again."

Mr Kennedy recently addressed more than 300 newly qualified doctors from the Frimley Health NHS Trust - the body responsible for patient care at his nearest hospital, Wexham Park - to outline his vision, and he's also been asked to run workshops and speak on the NHS national leadership programme for doctors.

The Patients' Trust has been launched as a charitable trust, which will sponsor a development programme for doctors.

Wycombe Wanderers provided the new charity with its first official donation, while more than £1,000 was raised at a recent dinner for the club's ex players' association.

Mr Kennedy said: "It's always been a special place. I spent ten years there and they've displayed incredible sensitivity and care for me."

For more information go to www.thepatienttrust.co.uk.