AS THE nation comes together in a country-wide clap of thanks this Sunday – on the 72nd birthday of the NHS – Bradford Hospitals’ Charity can reveal the invaluable role the public has played in supporting patients and staff.
Since launching its emergency NHS Hospital Heroes appeal on 27 March, Bradford Hospitals Charity – the charitable arm of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – has received more than £260,000 in donations and more than £140,000 worth of goods. This includes grants received by NHS Charities Together, of which Bradford Hospitals’ Charity is a member.
Bradford Hospitals’ Charity has approved around 90 funding applications across Bradford Teaching Hospitals worth almost £180,000.
Bradford Hospitals’ Charity and Bradford Teaching Hospitals will join NHS charities and NHS Trusts across the UK at 5pm on Sunday, 5 July to thank the public for their support as part of the big #ThankYouTogether clap. Bradford Royal Infirmary will also light up blue on the evening of Saturday, 4 July to remember those we have sadly lost.
“While our country locked down, Bradford stood up to support its NHS,” said Karen Dawber, Chief Nurse at Bradford Teaching Hospitals. “You sent donations of money, food and messages of support and solidarity.
Generosity and moral support
“We will never forget this incredible generosity and moral support, at a time when our National Health Service faced its biggest ever crisis.
“But now is the time to proudly show you how we are investing the money you donated. We are focusing on the wellbeing of our staff and looking at new and innovative ways to treat and care for our patients in these unprecedented times.
“So when you all applaud our NHS heroes on 5 July, we will be giving grateful thanks to you all for your support and solidarity during these tough times.”
Hayley Collis, Head of Fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, added: “While we all say #ThankYouTogether this weekend, it will mean a great deal to us to thank the many people, organisations and businesses who have donated and raised money for our patients and staff.
“Our charity has a long and proud tradition of funding over and above what the NHS provides, and the money and goods donated since the outbreak of this pandemic will provide tremendous support now and in the future.
“Sincere thanks also to NHS Charities Together – our membership organisation – which has provided grants to help fund our Covid-19 wellbeing projects. We are proud to be part of the NHS Charities Together family.”
Funds have been invested as follows:
- Furniture, white goods, furnishings and wellbeing items for more than 30 staff wellbeing rooms and gardens (also known as wobble rooms) across the Trust.
- Purchase of a specialist Sara Combilizer physiotherapy chair to help the most seriously ill Covid-19 patients, as well as other patients in our Intensive Care Unit, with their recovery.
- An extra mobile Sonosite ultrasound scanner for use in our ICU to aid with treatment of the most poorly patients.
- Purchase of ground-breaking software UpToDate.com, which provides clinicians with the very latest information and research on 11,800 topics covering 25 specialities, including the latest evidence-based information on Covid-19.
- Allocation of funds to refurbish the staff area for the Trust’s Pathology department (the department currently processing the Trust’s Covid-19 tests), providing our scientists with a relaxing area to rest and recharge.
- Furniture and refresh of the Trust’s Radiology staff room.
- Furniture for the Trust’s new staff ‘listening service’, created to provide an informal environment for staff to talk and receive support during the crisis.
- Memory making materials, such as handprint kits, for staff to spend time with our most poorly patients on our Covid wards at the height of the pandemic.
- 20 Samsung tablets for inpatients to video call loved ones at home while visiting restrictions are in place.
- 140 chargers purchased for patients to use with their own smart devices.
- A music licence to allow inpatients to listen to music on wards.
- Training aids to allow clinicians to demonstrate best practice via video link.
- Items to allow patients to take control of their care at home. For example, the charity has funded weighing sales for families to use at home, so nutritionists can monitor baby weights remotely.
- Arts and crafts materials to use with children and young people in hospital, to aid with heightened fear and anxiety during the pandemic.
- Emollient creams for staff suffering from dry and broken skin due to heavy use of PPE.
- Self-care items for staff to allow them to change and freshen up while at work.
- Snacks and refreshments for staff unable to leave their clinical area during working hours.
- T-shirts for staff to wear under PPE.
In addition, we have received:
- £140,000 worth of food, snacks, drinks.
- PPE produced by schools and local businesses.
- Knitted hearts to use as keepsakes for families of those who have sadly died.
- Headbands and mask extenders
- Scrubs
- Stationery and greetings cards for our ‘Relatives’ Line’ to enable our staff to pass messages between inpatients and their loved-ones.
For more information about Bradford Hospitals’ Charity’s NHS Hospital Heroes appeal and its work in general, visit https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org.
If you would like to make a donation, please visit www.JustGiving.com/bradfordteachinghospital
If you would like to raise money or become a corporate partner, please contact Bradford Hospitals’ Charity o n 01274 274809 or email charity@bthft.nhs.uk
ENDS
Pictured: Physiotherapy staff with the specialist Sara Combilizer physiotherapy chair purchased to help the most seriously ill Covid-19 patients, as well as other patients in our Intensive Care Unit, with their recovery.
Note to Editors:
Exact figures as of 2/7/20 are as follows:
- Donations and grants received: £261,013
- Funding approved by Bradford Hospitals’ Charity: £176,434
- Funding requests received across Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: 89
For more information about the #ThankYouTogether Coalition and events planned this weekend, please visit https://together.org.uk/
- 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.