Bradford Hospitals’ Charity has received a major boost to its Rays a Smile appeal thanks to fundraising students from Bingley Grammar School.
Year seven pupils walked 5K to raise an incredible £9,000 for the charity appeal, which aims to make radiology facilities in Bradford more child-friendly.
The money is expected to cover the entire cost of creating a revamped children’s waiting area in the radiology department at St Luke’s Hospital, complete with toys and distraction equipment.
LeeAnne Elliott, Consultant Paediatric Radiologist at Bradford Royal Infirmary, who joined the 300 students on the walk to talk to them about the charity appeal, said: “I am incredibly impressed with the enthusiasm and kindness of the year seven community at Bingley Grammar school. Their efforts and fundraising are a testament to all the students and staff and they should be very proud of their achievements.
“The money they have raised will make a huge difference to children and young people who visit radiology in the future. I am sincerely grateful to everyone involved.”
Bradford Hospitals’ Charity launched the Rays A Smile appeal in April this year to raise £250,000 to:
- create child-friendly radiology waiting areas,
- create a snuggle room at Bradford Royal Infirmary, which will provide a quiet space for babies to fall asleep before scans and avoid general anaesthetic,
- purchase a specialist Relax and View system to allow young patients to watch cartoons and films during MRI scans and, it is hoped, avoid general anaesthetic,
- buy toys, distraction equipment and audio systems to distract children while waiting and during scans
- refurbish some scanning rooms with more child-friendly décor, to ensure children are more at ease in the environment.
Most radiology services in Bradford are based in the basement of Bradford Royal Infirmary, which has little natural light, offering X-ray, ultrasound, CT and MRI. A smaller unit of ultrasound and X-ray is based at St Luke’s Hospital’s D Block.
Almost all patients treated by Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, either as an inpatient or outpatient, are referred for imaging, and more than 20,000 children and young people are imaged each year.
It is believed that a brighter, more child-friendly environment will benefit all patients, including some adults who find imaging difficult or stressful. It is also hoped the changes will speed up scan times and provide better quality images, because people will be less anxious.
Hayley Collis, Head of Fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “We are completely blown away by the amount raised by students from Bingley Grammar School. Thank you so much to the students, their family, friends and staff who took part and supported the charity walk, either in person, via donations or by helping with the organisation.
“We believe the money raised by Bingley Grammar School will pay for all the transformation work required in the radiology department at St Luke’s Hospital, which will act as a wonderful, lasting legacy for the school. They should be very proud of the fact future patients will benefit from their efforts.”
Sponsored walk
This is the third sponsored walk the school has organised, having raised £4,200 the first year, £4,500 the second year and £9,000 this year – bringing a total of £17,700. Previous walks raised money to support the new hospital wing at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
Hayley added: “It is an incredible achievement for the students to smash their targets and double the previous amounts raised. We can’t thank you all enough.”
David Brown, Student Support Officer at Bingley Grammar School, said: “All staff at Bingley Grammar School are immensely proud of the magnificent effort by our year seven students. They have worked so hard to raise £9,000. This wonderful group of students have demonstrated a high level of determination, compassion and empathy in supporting this local charity. Year seven students are also rightly proud knowing that this money will make a huge difference.”
Dr Elliott was joined by Children and Young People’s Matron Ruth Tolley on the walk on 28 June. The cheque was presented in a special assembly to Senior Radiology Sister Paula Farrell, Dr Elliott and Matron Ruth Tolley. Paediatrician Simon Frazer also attended the school’s awards evening, where he also thanked students.
For more information about the Rays a Smile appeal, to watch the appeal film and make a donation, visit https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/rays-a-smile/. Alternatively, contact Hayley Collis or Elaine Drake on 01274 274809 or email charity@bthft.nhs.uk
ENDS
Note to Editors:
- Bradford Hospitals’ Charity is one of more than 250 NHS charities based around the UK. It supports the strategic direction of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust by funding projects which go over and above what he NHS provides.
- Did you know that, together, all NHS charities give £1million every single day to the NHS!
- In 2017, a new £28million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, which was part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals. It provides world-class facilities for the elderly, children and a brand new intensive care unit. Bradford Hospitals’ Charity provided £260,000 to enable the Trust to create family friendly environments, state-of-the-art equipment and innovative distraction toys and games for young people.
- With the support of Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, BTHFT was also able to provide more cots, including intensive care and high dependency cots, new family accommodation, a revamped counselling suite and a dedicated room for mothers to express milk for pre-term babies when the new neonatal unit opened in 2015.
For further media information, please contact Kelly Thornham, Communications Officer, at communications@bthft.nhs.uk or call 01274 382265
Twitter: @BTHFTCharity Facebook: bradfordhospitalscharity Instagram:bradfordhospitalscharity LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bradfordhospitalscharity
Note to Editors:
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for providing hospital services for the people of Bradford and communities across Yorkshire. We serve a core population of around 500,000 and provide specialist services for 1.1 million people.
Our 5,500 staff work over several sites, including Bradford Royal Infirmary, which provides the majority of inpatient services, and St Luke’s Hospital, which predominantly provides outpatient and rehabilitation services. We also manage local community hospitals at Westwood Park, Westbourne Green, and Eccleshill.
In early 2017, a new £28 million wing opened at Bradford Royal Infirmary, part of a £75m investment to improve patient care across our hospitals over a five-year period. It provides world-class facilities for elderly care, children’s services, a state-of-the-art intensive care unit with increased single-room provision and a retail concourse.
The new wing is a continuation of our work to improve patient experience after our new £2 million neonatal unit officially opened in January 2015. Our maternity services were recently shortlisted for the Royal College of Midwives’ (RCM) Midwifery Service of the Year Award, recognising excellence and innovation in the provision of maternity care.
In 2017, we also completed a £2m refurbishment of our Emergency Department (ED) as part of an ambitious vision to create a more efficient acute medicine service for the people of Bradford. It has been designed to provide a slicker and more efficient service, with faster senior clinical involvement at an early stage in the patient pathway.
As a teaching hospital, we are at the forefront of education and development in healthcare, and have an excellent reputation for research performance. We are one of the leading centres in conducting applied research in the country, particularly in quality and safety, elderly care and rehabilitation.
The Trust is home to the Bradford Institute for Health Research (BIHR) where researchers have led the development, validation and implementation of the award-winning Bradford Electronic Frailty Index (eFI) which helps calculate an elderly person’s risk of disability, impairment, falls and complications of chronic diseases, as well as their diminishing independence and capability. This is now being used by 98 per cent of all GPs across the country.
Our award-winning Ophthalmology department is home to numerous worldwide clinical trials taking the lead in eye care research and we are one of only three sites in the United Kingdom to be enlisted in the Perioperative Enhanced Recovery Hip Fracture Care of Patients with Dementia (PERFECTED) study, which will investigate how the NHS can introduce better standards of care to improve outcomes for people with dementia.
Follow us on Twitter: @BTHFT
For more information please visit www.bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk