Bradford Hospitals’ Charity is calling on the city’s students to sign up to its superhero abseil to celebrate our real-life NHS heroes.
On Saturday, September 21, staff and members of the public will abseil 50ft down the side of Bradford Royal Infirmary dressed as their favourite superheroes in tribute to our hardworking NHS staff.
The daredevils will be raising money for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, which works in partnership with Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to provide equipment, training, research and funds to enhance the hospital environment.
This year, it is hoped young people across the city will sign up to support the charity’s Rays a Smile appeal, which aims to raise £250,000 to make radiology services more child-friendly at Bradford Royal Infirmary and St Luke’s Hospital.
Those gutsy enough to go over the edge can dress as any superhero they like – whether it’s Superman or a nurse who cared for them, Spiderman or the surgeon who saved their life. Many people taking part will also be dedicating the feat to friends and family who have shown bravery.
Hayley Collis, head of fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “We would love to invite local schools and colleges into our hospital to experience the amazing camaraderie of the NHS.
Very best care
“Students and their teachers are welcome to join us to celebrate our wonderful NHS and raise money to help us provide the very best care and treatment. Last year, St Anthony’s Primary School, Clayton, took part and everyone – including their head teacher – had a wonderful time!
“Our radiology departments in Bradford scan more than 20,000 children and young people every year, so your students will benefit from our plans to make radiology services more child-friendly.
“From creating a children’s waiting area to purchasing specialist kit for children and young people to watch films while they have an MRI – these changes will make the world of difference to the anxious young people who come into hospital for scans.
“We would love you to join us to go over the edge for our Rays a Smile appeal!”
If you would like more information about how your school, class or year group can get involved, please call Hayley Collis or Elaine Drake on 01274 274809 or email charity@bthft.nhs.uk Participants must be at least 10 years old.
You can also sign up via the charity website at https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/event/charity-superhero-abseil/
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.
The Trust has its own Bradford Hospitals Charity: www.bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk/charity
Follow us on Twitter: @BTHFT
For more information please visit www.bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk