BRADFORD Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust would like to thank the people of Bradford and beyond for their incredible support during the Covid-19 crisis.
The Trust’s charitable arm – Bradford Hospitals’ Charity – has been co-ordinating fundraising efforts and donations via its NHS Hospital Heroes appeal since it was launched at the end of March.
More than £10,000 has now been via the Bradford Hospitals’ Charity Just Giving page, with a further £40,000 received in grants to support staff, and an incredible £45,000 received from an anonymous donor, totalling almost £100,000.
Further to this, a staggering £40 million has been raised via the national NHS Charities Together Emergency Covid-19 Appeal – of which Bradford Hospitals’ Charity is a member.
Bradford Hospitals’ Charity has also been inundated with donations of food and drink, toiletries, PPE and scrubs. While some have been donated by businesses, schools and other charities, many have also been paid for and donated by individuals from across the district. Some of the most notable donations have ranged from the use of a house, apartments and the use of an aeroplane.
The community has been so generous with donations, that the charity and Trust are now working with other charities across the district to ensure food and essentials are shared and reach those most in-need.
Bradford and beyond
Cash donations have come from across Bradford and beyond, with one $5,000 donation from New York.
Mel Pickup, Chief Executive of Bradford Teaching Hospitals and Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “I cannot thank the people of Bradford enough for the kindness and generosity they have shown throughout this crisis.
“We have been overwhelmed with donations and we are truly grateful for everything we have received. We are listening to our staff and will be using the funds raised locally and nationally to support them during this crisis and long after it has ended.
“These are really tough times for us here at the Trust, but we are made of strong stuff and it really helps to know that we have the people of Bradford behind us.”
Max McLean, Chair of Bradford Teaching Hospitals and Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, launched the NHS Hospital Heroes Appeal on 27 March. He said: “The people of Bradford have really stepped up in this crisis. They have shown just how much they value and appreciate the sacrifices our NHS workers are making by going to great lengths to help in any way they can. Your support means so much to us all.”
Hayley Collis, head of fundraising for Bradford Hospitals’ Charity, said: “Our charity has worked in partnership with Bradford Teaching Hospitals since the NHS was formed, more than 70 years ago, funding millions of pounds worth of kit, projects, research, training and staff support over the years.
“Our Trust, and the NHS as a whole, is facing a crisis like never before, which is why we launched our NHS Hospital Heroes appeal. With the funds we raise and the donations we receive, we will ensure our hospital staff, and the patients they are so selflessly caring for, are looked after and supported in the very best way possible.
Thank you
“Thank you, Bradford, for your incredible response to our appeal. We will be forever grateful.”
The £45,000 anonymous donation to Bradford Hospitals’ Charity has been used to purchase an industry-leading clinical decision support tool – UpToDate.com. The app can be accessed via phones or computers and provides clinicians with evidence-based clinical content, providing staff with information at their fingertips, helping them tackle Covid-19 and other conditions. The app went live on Thursday 9 April across Bradford Teaching Hospitals, helping doctors and nurses make critical decisions quickly.
Money raised via Bradford’s NHS Hospital Heroes appeal will be used for a variety of items and projects, including comfort packs for staff (which include toiletries), clothing, equipment for staff ‘wobble rooms’ which provide a quiet place to reflect (such as appliances), and items to establish a Trust ‘listening service’ which will provide support to staff throughout the crisis.
NHS Charities Together’s national Covid-19 Appeal fund will be distributed to all member NHS charities – of which Bradford Hospitals’ Charity is one – in the form of grants to be used to support staff during the crisis and after it has ended.
To find out more about the Bradford Hospitals’ Charity’s NHS Hospital Heroes appeal visit https://bradfordhospitalscharity.org/nhshospitalheroes/. If you would like to fundraise or donate, please visit the charity’s Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/BTHFTCovid-19
If any businesses would like to donate items, please contact our charity on charity@bthft.nhs.uk or call 01274 274809. A list of items most needed, and those we are unable to accept, can be found on the appeal page of the website. All donation drop-offs must be pre-arranged to ensure safety for all.
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.
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