26 September 2019

Charity lottery grants making a difference

Thank you to everyone who plays our lottery. Because of you, this year we were able to give £21,214 to our staff in grants. We will be telling you their stories over the next few months…

Radios for ultrasound department

“With the lottery profits, we have been able to buy radios for our scan room, our waiting area and also our blood test room. I know they may seem like small items, but they will make a massive difference to our patients.

Having some music on quietly in the background will help to relax our patients, especially with early scans where previously there would just have been silence in the room. There is often a pause while we locate babies, so music helps to distract the women, and it is the same in the blood test room.

We’ve already had patients sing along to songs, and staff have joined in too which really helps to relax patients. We have different radio stations on in the room depending on the staff working, and they get as much benefit from the radios as the patients!”

– Pauline Mackay, clinical lead for ultrasound.

 

Paediatric cystic fibrosis workshop for siblings

“I am part of the paediatric cystic fibrosis team here in Southampton Children’s Hospital, supporting our cystic fibrosis patients and their families. I work with individuals and families to help improve outcomes in their lives, through emotional and practical advice and support. Besides supporting people, I act as an advocate (helping patients to get their voice heard) and direct people to the services they might need.

Our team wanted to better understand the impact of cystic fibrosis on healthy siblings, and by using the Southampton Hospital Charity lottery grant money, we held a focus group for siblings of our patients.

In this session we wanted to find out what their needs are and what could be done differently to help them. We have used the findings to produce a report and our next steps are to work towards our recommendations which covered a broad area including better educational resources, improved teachings in schools, fundraising and awareness raising events and social opportunities.”

– Katie Smith, paediatric cystic fibrosis social worker.

 

Help us to provide more grants in 2020 to our staff for the benefit of our patients. To find out more information or to join our lottery, go to www.southamptonhospitalscharity.org/Join-the-lottery

Last updated: 26/09/2019

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