Rockinghorse has recently given away £50,000 worth of funding to benefit children and young people in Sussex.
Rockinghorse has given away £50,000 worth of funding for projects to benefit young people across the county.
We allocated grants to 10 different projects at local hospitals, neonatal units and children’s services during a presentation event at the end of April. The main beneficiary of these funds was The Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital (the Alex) in Brighton.
Staff from the hospital met with Rockinghorse Trustees and our Chief Executive, to present their funding requests in a ‘Dragons’ Den’ style process. Successful applicants were delivered the good news there and then.
The Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital was the main beneficiary of funding from Rockinghorse.
Having a positive impact
Ryan Heal, CEO of Rockinghorse, explains, “The initiative proved to be a positive way of releasing funds for much needed projects, whilst meeting with many department representatives from across the hospital face to face. It is the perfect example of how we as a charity can impact the children’s hospital effectively, innovatively, and immediately.”
Here at Rockinghorse, we raise money for life-saving and cutting-edge medical equipment. We fund projects which focus on improving a young person’s physical and emotional well-being, whilst providing additional support services for parents and carers.
A variety of projects are being funded. They include; blood pressure monitors for the surgical ward, reflux detection machines for the paediatric gastro-enterology service, Panoptic Ophthalmoscopes for the children’s emergency department, and additional diabetes equipment.
Some of the funds will be used to develop a virtual fracture clinic at the Alex.
Funding for a virtual fracture clinic
We’re delighted to be funding two new key services at the Alex. The first is a paediatric orthopaedic emergency virtual clinic to support children with suspected fractures.
Thomas Crompton is a children’s orthopaedic consultant at the Alex. He explains more: “A twice-weekly fracture clinic is currently provided by the Alex, which sees almost 5,000 young patients a year.
“In order to reduce travel between hospital sites or departments, the virtual clinic will allow a consultant orthopaedic surgeon to view the X-ray remotely and make an individual plan for each patient.
“Senior physios will then liaise directly with patients and their parents to determine the next steps. This will be supported by online information and videos, so that children can have a visual understanding of what’s happening.”
The groundbreaking Function First Service has also been awarded funding.
Supporting the Function First Service
The second service to be funded by Rockinghorse at the Alex is the Function First Service. Following a two-year pilot, the allocated funding will enable it to become a permanent fixture at the children’s hospital in Brighton.
The Function First Service is better known as the Complex Symptoms Service. It is a multidisciplinary team of specialised professionals who are providing a service for children and young people with medically unexplained symptoms.
Jo Lord from the Function First Service, explains: “The service is the first of its kind in the UK, bringing together all forms of medically explained and/or functional illnesses under one umbrella. Our aim is to ensure that we are not just an evidence-based service, but a pioneering and evolving one that will contribute to ground-breaking research.
“Having a permanent service like this for children and their families to access is of huge importance and benefit to young people within the catchment area of the Alex, right across Sussex.”
Funding will also benefit hospitals in West Sussex.
Reaching out to hospitals in West Sussex
Other hospitals to benefit from Rockinghorse funds are Worthing Hospital and St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester. The Alex is expanding its children’s cystic fibrosis (CF) and chest centre into West Sussex via both of these hospitals.
Our funding will enable the service to purchase a portable lung function machine. This equipment will be used to treat young patients with CF and other chronic chest problems, such as asthma and bronchiectasis.
Rockinghorse Chief Executive, Ryan Heal, says, “It is with great pleasure that we are able to award grants totalling £50,000 to some very worthy recipients. We are extremely proud to be supporting vital services and ground-breaking projects through our fundraising, as we continue to make a difference to the lives of young people in Sussex.”
To find out more about these projects, please click here.
