Around 50 people are planning to take the plunge and abseil 50ft down the side of Bradford Royal Infirmary on Saturday, September 21.
Participants, some as young as 10, are raising money for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity – the official charity partner of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTHFT).
While many of the daredevils are taking part to say thank you for the care they or loved ones have received, many hard-working NHS staff have also signed up to boost funds to pay for projects across hospital wards and departments to improve the environment for patients and their families while they visit or stay in our hospitals.
The Lord Mayor of Bradford, Councillor Doreen Lee, will attend the abseil from 9am to hand out medals to the first cohort of fundraisers as they touch down.
More than 20 pupils from St Anthony’s Catholic Primary School, Clayton, will take part to raise money for the charity’s Rays a Smile Appeal. The appeal aims to raise £250,000 to make changes to radiology service areas and buy new equipment to make scans less scary for children.
And neonatal nurses Holly Eve and Carly Miller will be joined by family and friends to raise money for Bradford’s BIG Neonatal Appeal, which is raising money to build five extra bedrooms to accommodate parents so they can be close to their babies in our Neonatal Unit.
Hayley Collis, head of fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “This will be our second superhero abseil and we can’t wait to see the amazing outfits our fearless fundraisers wear!
“Last year, Bradford Hospitals’ Charity funded £1 million worth of projects across Bradford’s hospitals to ensure patients receive the very best care and treatment.
“We are incredibly grateful to our daredevils for taking up the challenge to abseil this year and raising money for their NHS.
“We are proud of our staff for stepping up to the plate to raise money for projects which mean a lot to them. It’s also heart-warming to see so many children taking part because they want to help our young patients.”
Anyone can make a donation to Bradford Hospitals’ Charity at www.justgiving.com/bradfordteachinghospital.
If you would like more information about Bradford Hospitals ‘Charity, please visit https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/, where you will find news about some of our fundraisers taking part.
Alternatively, if you are interested in fundraising or volunteering for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, please call 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% 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