TRIBUTES have been paid to a woman described as unique and as a champion of the NHS who died on Christmas Day. Joan Eileen Pounds was found collapsed at her Christchurch home by her son, Nicholas, when he stopped for a festive visit. The 92-year-old, in her capacity as chairman of the Christchurch Hospital League of Friends, helped raise funds for life-saving equipment, facilities and services for the wider community. Richard Renault, chief strategy and transformation officer for University Hospitals Dorset, said: Joan was a real champion of the NHS, and Christchurch in particular. As chairman of the Christchurch Hospital League of Friends for many, many years she helped to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds and organise hundreds of volunteers.