Staff from local children’s hospitals were invited to the latest project day to pitch their ideas for funding to staff and trustees from Rockinghorse.
We regularly look for projects, equipment, and services which will help make the lives of babies, children, young people and their families happier and more comfortable. This could be big pieces of expensive medical equipment to help staff provide the best care, or smaller things like books and toys to help the time in hospital pass more quickly.
Whilst the larger items are important, often items that cost less than £5,000 can have an equally big impact. Which is why we put the call out to our Champions; NHS staff who work across The Alex, Trevor Mann Baby Unit (TMBU) and children’s healthcare settings throughout the county, to find out what projects that cost less than £5,000 would make their lives, and those of their patients, better.
Once we received the application forms for this latest round of projects, we arranged a morning at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, where the Champions could come and pitch their ideas to a panel of staff and Trustees.
The latest session took place this week, and it was another great opportunity to understand how the support that your donations provide can make a difference.
All together we were presented with eleven different projects which included pamper packs for parents who find themselves unexpectantly staying in hospital with their child, a portable projector to distract children having long scans, equipment for specialist feeding clinics, comfortable breast feeding chairs, and a portable unit to help drain fluid and air from the between the lungs and chest wall.
Fran Masey O’Neill, Projects Manager at Rockinghorse, said, “These projects days are a really helpful way for us to not only meet and speak directly with our Champions but to find out exactly what kind of things will make the biggest difference to their work.
“Being able to understand exactly how these projects will improve the care that our NHS colleagues can give to their patients is really important. Not only does it help us better understand the needs of children and families within our community, but it also enables us to talk to our supporters more impactfully about the importance of supporting us.”
One of the projects that was approved at the session was for special cushion that can be used to help keep children still during long CT or MRI scans.
As these scans can take a while, it can be really difficult for younger patients to stay still for a long time, especially if they are scared or nervous.
Previously it’s been common to administer a general anaesthetic to enable the scan to take place. However, this means the whole process takes much longer and requires more medical staff, leading to longer treatment times and staffing costs.
So having this special bit of kit will really help. Essentially the child is placed into the cushion in the right position and then it’s inflated so that their position is fixed, and the scan can take place.
Consultant paediatrician Krishne Chetty told the panel that she had been made aware of these cushions at a recent respiratory conference where two London hospitals were using them and had greatly reduced their use of general anaesthetics.
Another project given the green light was for some new toys and resources for the Community Diagnostic Centre in Shoreham.
The centre sees children for a variety of different diagnostic testing and scans. And whilst the environment is nice, they don’t have any toys or sensory items to help children feel more comfortable and relaxed while waiting for their appointment or when they are being treated.
After the session staff and Trustees were overwhelmed by the amazing work being done by our NHS colleagues every day.
Fran added: “Seeing these projects really give us a chance to see the results of the fundraising that we do. It also means we can better share these projects and their impact with our supporters, helping them to really understand why their support is so important.”
To find out more about the projects we fund, take a look at our projects page here.
