- From left to right: Lindsay Barlow, staff nurse, Sarah Broomes, mother, Fiona Machin, staff nurse, Julia Fernyhough, nursery nurse, Tina Hayes, baby unit sister holding Poppy, Sarah’s daughter, and band members Glenn Hayes and Ian Jones.
Bob Geldof may have had Live Aid, but one local band stepped on stage in aid of Good Hope Hospital’s special care baby unit.
The band, called Prism, held a benefit concert in front of 200 people at the Glascote Social Club in Tamworth and helped raise an impressive £700 for the neonatal unit. There was also a raffle with prizes donated from local businesses including TK Maxx, Asda and Bannatyne’s Health Club.
Tina Hayes, baby unit sister, said: “We really appreciate this kind donation from the band. We aim to provide the best possible care for our poorly babies and this will help us continue to provide an excellent service for mothers in the region and their babies.”
The money will be given to the Breath of Life appeal which aims to raise £300,000 towards neonatal services at Good Hope and the Heart of England NHS Trust’s other two hospitals, Heartlands and Solihull Hospital.
The special care baby unit cares for babies who are premature or suffering from severe illnesses. The unit has already treated more than 400 babies this year alone.
- Fertility Nurse Diana Ham at her desk
Good Hope Hospital’s fertility clinic is opening its doors to the public with an open evening especially for couples to find out more about infertility treatment.
With 1 in 7 couples in the West Midlands experiencing difficulty conceiving, the event will give locals the chance to hear advice from fertility experts, and have questions answered by professionals.
Fertility nurse, Diana Ham, said: “Our clinic has a success rate slightly higher than the 14 per cent national average with 17 per cent of women successfully conceiving. We are also one of the few fertility clinics in the region to allow women to book appointments between 7am and 9.30am which means they can fit their appointments around work commitments.”
The clinic offers a fee-paying infertility service for couples who are not eligible for NHS infertility treatment, and is one of only two NHS centres of its kind in the region.
Good Hope fertility clinic is hosting the open evening on Thursday 26 November, 6.45pm – 8.45pm at the Partnership Learning Centre. For more information and to book a place contact Diana Ham on 0121 424 9758.
- From left to right: Good Hope volunteers Mary and Derek Irving, Vera Holley, BBC Midlands Today presenter Michael Collie, Tony Swannie and his daughter Ella and volunteers Jean Deakin and Lisa Moss.
Sutton Coldfield local Tony Swannie has won a Hospital award after helping to raise more than £100,000 for Good Hope Hospital in just seven years.
Tony was inspired to fundraise for the Hospital after being impressed with the care he and his family received at Good Hope. Countless patients have since benefitted from the essential medical equipment he has helped to provide through the money raised.
Tony won the Special Recognition Award which honours an individual’s outstanding contribution to their local Hospital.
Tony says: “For the past seven years I have worked with the fundraisers at Good Hope and whenever there is a fundraising event, I donate the prizes. I can count on the fundraisers to triple the value of any prize I donate and at the Christmas raffle the fundraisers raised an impressive £3,000.
“It’s a great honour to win this award but the ones who deserve the real recognition are the staff and volunteers at Good Hope. The Hospital is invaluable to people in Sutton Coldfield and after the care I experienced, I’m now helping to give something back. If, through my support, they can be assisted in any way to carry on saving lives and helping others, then I shall always be here to do what I can.”
The award was part of the Hospital’s annual Staff Recognition Awards, held at the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham, a chance for Hospital staff and volunteers to be recognised for hard work and exceptional patient care.
The items of equipment that have been provided with Tony’s help include a bladder scanner for urology, a birthing-chair for maternity and new seating areas in A&E.
- Left to right: Marian Newstead, Vanessa Brookes, senior sister, Dawn Williams and daughter Billie, Lorna McCabe, health care assistant and Vicky Brinkworth, staff nurse
A Sutton Coldfield patient helped to raise an impressive £1,751for Good Hope Hospital to thank staff for the treatment she received.
Marian Newstead, 64, who is being treated for lung cancer, decided a fundraising event would be the perfect way to recognise staff at the Hospital’s haematology and oncology unit.
Marian’s daughter, Dawn Williams from Perry Common, organised a fun-day at her local pub, the Safe Harbour in Witton, to raise the money. Activities included face-painting, a bouncy castle and raffle which featured a signed Aston Villa football.
Marian said: “I really don’t know what I’d have done without the staff at Good Hope. My family and I cannot thank them enough. They treat you like an individual, not a number, and this money is just a way of showing our appreciation.”
Unit senior sister, Vanessa Brookes, said: “We are so very grateful for this donation and Marian is the perfect patient. We are hoping to put the money towards patient comforts and medical equipment.”
- Anna Howle, matron, Good Hope fundraiser, Vera Holley, and lead consultant, Tony Bleetman, pose with the new tono-pen instrument at Good Hope’s emergency department.
Hard working volunteers at Good Hope Hospital have seen months of fundraising work pay off, with the arrival of a new piece of equipment on the emergency ward.
The £2,500 tono-pen device will be used to rapidly and accurately diagnose patients with early stage glaucoma, a serious eye disease causing blindness if left undetected.
The pen measures the pressures in the eye, with elevated pressures indicating glaucoma, and will be used on any patient that comes in to the emergency department with a head ache.
Tony Bleetman, consultant lead in Good Hope’s A&E said: “Those over the age of 40 are particularly at risk from glaucoma, and the quicker they can be diagnosed the better the outcome is for the patient.
“Before the arrival of the tono-pen, we may have referred a patient we suspected of having glaucoma to the eye hospital or eye clinic. Now we can provide a much quicker, more accurate diagnosis. We are extremely gratefully to Vera Holley and her team of volunteers for all their hard work in raising the funds.”
Heartlands Hospital is celebrating the arrival of a new scanner, the first of its kind in the region and only the second to be installed in the NHS. The new CT scanner, known as a Toshiba Aquilion One 320 Slice, has the ability to scan an entire body part in one rotation and in less than a second. This is a fraction of the time compared to previously available CT scanners, resulting in the patient’s investigation being completed more quickly, and radiologists able to access the scan results within seconds for a faster diagnosis.
The CT scanner also offers the lowest radiation dose available to patients, along with providing a very high scan quality. For use in examining all the major body parts and imaging whole organs in real time, it is expected to revolutionise the means of treating patients, especially those with chest pain and stroke. Dr Madava Djearaman, Heartlands consultant cardiothoracic radiologist said: “This cutting edge technology will enable us to offer patients the best quality of care by improving diagnostic accuracy, particularly for patients arriving at the Hospital with symptoms of chest pain. As the scanner works more efficiently than previous scanners, we are also already seeing a steady increase in the amount of patients we are able to see and treat per day.” Dr Lowri Morus, clinical director of radiology said: “At a cost of just over £2m, the scanner represents a substantial financial investment in radiology services and demonstrates the organisation’s commitment to providing a world class service to the patients of the region.” The radiology department at Heartlands has also benefited from a new, dedicated CT suite, housing its two CT scanners back to back, as well as improved patient reception and waiting areas.
Heartlands Hospital’s £5m Energy Centre has received an official opening ceremony.
Located at the Hospital’s main entrance, the Centre is responsible for reducing the Hospital’s energy costs and providing savings of more than £688,000 per year. This money will be fed back into caring for patients and making improvements to the Hospital.
The Energy Centre’s state of the art system also helps to improve the Hospital’s carbon footprint, in line with its pledge with the Carbon Trust to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 25 per cent in five years. Heartlands Hospital’s CO2 emissions have already been cut by more than 5,600 tonnes this year, which equates to the environmental benefit of 560,000 trees. Emissions of other harmful green house gases, such as sulphur dioxide, have also been reduced.
Lord Whitty, president of the Combined Heat and Power Association, who officially opened the Centre, said: “The Trust and its partner, energy solutions company, EnerG, are to be applauded for innovating and delivering a system that brings multiple advantages to the local community.”
Heartlands Hospital’s chairman, Clive Wilkinson, said: “We are continuing the commitment to energy conservation and the reduction of our carbon footprint. We’re also on target for similar schemes at Solihull Hospital and Good Hope Hospital.”
Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust recently invited in April 2009 the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to review its governance arrangements for the safety of patients. Following a review of all of the evidence and a visit on the 23rd October 2009 the Trust has now received its report. Click here for further information.
- Maureen Paul and Dorothy Godwin
Patients at Solihull Hospital are breathing easy thanks to the arrival of new equipment to help those with severe breathing difficulties.
The nebuliser box offers relief by providing medication inhaled through a mask between two and four times a day. The box opens the airways of those patients who suffer from asthma or those who develop breathing problems such as breathlessness.
Maureen Paul, senior sister ward 18 said: “The nebuliser box is a great investment for the ward. Many of our patients experience problems with breathing and we will see a great improvement in their condition with the new boxes.”
Solihull resident Dorothy Godwin, who funded the equipment with a generous donation to the ward following the death of her husband in March, said: “My husband suffered from bronchopneumonia and the staff worked really hard to ensure he had the best possible care. I really wanted to give something back to say thank you and know the nebuliser box, a machine also used by my husband, will help many more patients in future.”
Solihull Hospital bosses have reached an agreement with leading health and beauty retailer Boots UK, this week to bring healthcare services to the Solihull community with the opening of a new outpatient’s clinic on the first floor of the retail store in Mel Square.
Introduction of the new service means the hospital will be the first of its kind to offer blood testing, outpatient dermatology treatment and children’s ophthalmology clinics in a Boots store.
Lisa Dunn, Hospital Director, said: “We are really excited about this opportunity to collaborate with Boots UK. The Trust is continually seeking ways to improve the services provided to our patients and this new development will further expand choice and availability to Solihull patients.”
Paul Bennett, professional standards director and superintendent pharmacist, Boots UK, said: “We are pleased to be extending our portfolio of in-store NHS services, with the opening of this new clinic in our store in Solihull town centre. Our customers have welcomed the variety and accessibility of new services provided in other stores and together with Solihull Hospital, we look forward to offering the same convenient healthcare provision to the local population here.”
All services will be available Monday to Saturday and the clinic is set to open in late November.
