Poorly children being treated for chronic lung disease at Bradford Teaching Hospitals can now benefit from a brand new treatment vest.
The high-frequency chest wall oscillation vest performs a gentle form of therapy, allowing physiotherapists to treat children with complex health conditions who would otherwise struggle with hands-on physiotherapy to treat chest infections.
According to paediatric physiotherapist Jill Morris, the vest not only does a wonderful job of clearing mucus from the child’s lungs and improving their breathing, but it also makes them giggle!
“The vest vibrations often make children giggle, which is wonderful to see,” said Jill, who is based at Bradford Royal Infirmary.
“And not only is the vest as effective as hands-on physical therapy, but it takes only 10 minutes rather than up to an hour. So not only are we helping the child to feel better, but we are also freeing up more time for them to be with their family.”
The vest, which cost almost £9,000 and was bought by Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, is already being used by young patients in Bradford – often up to three times per day.
“Many of our patients who require regular physiotherapy treatment for their lung disease also have other underlying health conditions and life-limiting illness,” said Jill.
Enormous help
“In these circumstances, it’s not appropriate for us to be carrying out long, hands-on physio sessions and causing unnecessary distress. This vest has been an enormous help.”
Fourteen-year-old Inaya Ali, of Canterbury, Bradford, recently used the vest after a long stay in hospital. Inaya, who has cerebral palsy, would struggle with hands-on therapy, said mum Zahida Ali.
“It has made a big difference to our family,” she said. “I also have two daughters who have cystic fibrosis and they can all use the vest. It makes them laugh!”
Hayley Collis, head of fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “It’s lovely to see this piece of equipment, which our charity has funded, making such a big difference to the lives of our young patients.
“We believe that the people of Bradford deserve the very best, which is why we fund over and above what the NHS can provide, often upgrading equipment to the highest specification or purchasing items quicker than the NHS is able to.
“While our physiotherapists are highly trained to carry out physical therapy on children with lung infections, if a piece of equipment is available which is less invasive, they will always strive to make this available. We were delighted to fund this brilliant new therapy, which has the added bonus of making the patients smile!”
To find out more about Bradford Hospitals’ Charity – the official NHS charity partner of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – and how you can support it through fundraising, donations or volunteering, visit www.bradfordhospitalscharity.org. 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
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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
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For more information please visit www.bradfordhospitals.nhs.uk