01245 443 285

Tilt chairs for Therapy Services

According to Louise Panella, Lead Therapist “These chairs are already in full use and are benefiting patients who are transitioning from bed care to sitting. Patients have expressed how comfortable and safe the chairs feel and use of them is speeding up discharges from hospital.”

They are a total ‘game changer’ and allow patients, previously managed in bed greater potential to be able to progress to seated and standing positions. The Friends are pleased to have provided funding of £4,344 for the first two tilt chairs.

Phacon Throat Assist for Therapy Services

Staff training is a really important aspect of delivering patient care. The Friends were pleased to award £2,330 to fund the Phacon Throat Assist.

This is a ‘model head’ which is used in conjunction with a scope (camera) … and enables staff to be trained with…

Two ‘patient bedwarmers’ for Burns ITU

The Friends at Broomfield Hospital recently awarded £4,200 to fund the ‘patient bedwarmers’.

Pictured here are hospital staff with ladies from the Friends who visited the department to see how this equipment is helping patients …. Staff from the department kindly…

Welcome to Friends at Broomfield Hospital - Celebrating 70yrs of the Friends!

VOLUNTEERS from the Friends at Broomfield Hospital have been giving vital help and making life better for patients of all ages, as well as for staff and visitors at the hospital, for 70 years now!

A vast array of equipment, plus countless extras to bring more comfort and convenience to all who use the hospital’s wards and departments, have been made possible thanks to the money brought in through the efforts made by the Friends.

An amazing total of over £1.2 million pounds has been raised since 1984, and last year we donated £52,000 to Broomfield Hospital and this year we are hoping to donate £70,000 in celebration of our 70th year!

The Friends at Broomfield Hospital group (formerly called the League of Friends) currently has over 70 volunteers, but we are always on the look out for more to swell the ranks and help bring that special and much-appreciated extra dimension to the services offered at Broomfield Hospital.

Friends at Broomfield donate £50k to Robot Appeal

The Friends at Broomfield have donated a magnificent £50,000 to the robotic surgery appeal.

The Friends, who run two shops at the hospital, made a special visit to Theatres to present a cheque and have a demonstration of the Da Vinci robot from surgeon Sri Kadirkamanathan. Some of the ladies even had a go at operating the robot themselves.

The Friends’ Janet Warn said: “When you see the robot, it really makes you appreciate what fundraising can do. It was great to get hands-on. We are all volunteers in the shops and on the trolleys and all enjoy working here. It makes me want to work a few more hours now!”

The Friends at Broomfield Hospital fund £40,000 equipment to help patients with swallowing and voice impairments

The Friends at Broomfield Hospital have kindly funded state-of-the-art technology to enable the Speech and Language Therapy team to provide advanced assessment for patients with swallowing and voice disorders.

Fibreoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) will benefit a wide patient group who present with oropharyngeal dysphagia (difficulty swallowing). People with dysphagia frequently include those with neurological disorders, patients who have had an acute stroke, and those who have undergone treatment for head and neck cancer.

Cleft Fundraising Buys New Bottles and Breastfeeding Pumps

Parents Stuart and Carol Gosling have funded five new breast pumps and bottles for children born with cleft lip and palate thanks to generous donations including another £2,000 from the Friends at Broomfield.

A cleft is a gap or split in the upper lip and/or the roof of the mouth as a result of a baby’s face not joining together in the womb. It affects one in 700 babies born in the UK and makes it difficult for the child to feed from either the breast or a conventional bottle because they are unable to form a vacuum inside their mouths.

Patients Benefit from Refurbished Discharge Lounge Thanks to Charitable Donations

Patients who are awaiting discharge from hospital can now benefit from improved surroundings thanks to charitable donations.

On Monday, December 4 2018, trust chairman Nick Alston, CBE, DL, attended an event to officially open the discharge lounge, alongside colleagues from across the trust. The Friends at Broomfield Hospital donated £10,000 to the renovation project, with a further £5,000 from monies given to ‘Our Charity’.

The room has been updated with new, comfortable reclining chairs and tables and has been decorated with artwork depicting local scenes, painted by Hatfield Peverel Art Group member Jim Cole.

Second Dementia Friendly Garden Opens

A second dementia friendly garden outside Baddow Ward was opened by the Mayor of Chelmsford Duncan Lumley. 

This garden was made possible by £50,000 of charitable donations, the Friends donated £10,000 towards this.

The garden which builds on the huge success of the Forget Me Not Garden at neighbouring Braxted Ward provides a therapeutic outside environment for patients and visitors to enjoy.  The health benefits of spending time in outside environments are well documented and are extremely beneficial to dementia patients in particular.

Presentation to the St Andrews of new chairs costing £3,000

The presentation to the St Andrews of new chairs costing £3,000.

“The Friends – Supporting your hospital, supporting you”

Friends Services

Two shops are run on the Broomfield Hospital site by volunteers from the Friends.

The bright and eye-catching ‘friends2shop’ is located in the busy new atrium at the main entrance to the hospital and the other shop, ‘friends1’, is in an established location near the entrance to the South Wing.

Both shops give superb service with a smile, brightening up each day for customers. Volunteers with the Friends all believe in going the extra mile and there is many a tale of them giving help above and beyond the call of duty.

The goods on sale include sandwiches, newspapers and magazines, soft drinks, greeting cards and confectionery. Coffee, Tea and recently hot soup has also been added to the list, all at competitive prices.

Every morning at 7.45am you will find our early bird volunteers in shop one, loading up our two big blue trolley’s. They are preparing to take them on to the wards and many departments in the hospital so that all patients, as well as staff and visitors, have a chance to buy the items they need.

 

The distance around the whole hospital trolley round is about six miles, a very good way to keep fit!

Who can volunteer?

People of any age and from all walks of life can be volunteers with the Friends at Broomfield Hospital. Current members include young people and pensioners and they all have one thing in common, the satisfaction they gain from making a contribution and helping others.

Some are motivated by the benefits they or a loved one have had from treatment within the NHS, others want to spend their spare time in a constructive and positive way which gives something back to the community and improves the experiences people have in hospital.

Special operating tables, an ultrasound machine for the gynaecology department, medical equipment for the childrens ward, monitors for the stroke ward and Christmas decorations are among the wide range of items which have been bought through funds donated by Friends at Broomfield Hospital.

The Friends are dedicated to improving facilities for patients, visitors and staff at Broomfield Hospital and they make a sterling effort to ensure that they raise as much as they can each year to achieve their aim.

All the income from the shops and trolley service run at Broomfield Hospital by the Friends is channelled back into the hospital, funding items requested by wards and departments.

Broomfield Hospital has had the benefit of a Friends group for more than 70 years and during that time over £1,000,000 has been donated by the Friends.

The Friends at Broomfield Shops

The current Friends at Broomfield Hospital team of volunteers are organised by long-standing members Barbara Coupe, Jenny Gillingham and Janet Warn who manage the shops run by the Friends. They co-ordinate the rotas of volunteers, keeping the shops open five days a week and the trolley service rolling Monday to Friday.

“The work is rewarded by what it achieves and on top of this we really enjoy what we do.”

Barbara has been a volunteer for over 30 years and her involvement began when she heard that help was needed at weekends to run a trolley service in the foyer of Broomfield Hospital. Jenny began volunteering with the Friends over 20 years ago and four years ago she helped take on the responsibility for volunteers and running the shops.

Barbara, Jenny and Janet are familiar and friendly faces for patients, visitors and staff at the hospital and they have a tremendous rapport, relishing their working time together.

Having run a hairdressing business, combined with bringing up two children, Barbara has always led a busy life and enjoys continuing to be active through the Friends at Broomfield Hospital. She is a great admirer and supporter of the NHS and feels it is an honour to give something back. Barbara enjoys the buzz of business and finds it very satisfying to make money for the Friends.

She helps out in the shops in a regular basis and in other ways through the services run by the Friends. She also helps with the all important tasks of banking, bill paying and book keeping for the shops.

Looking back to the earlier days of her volunteering Barbara said: “All those years ago the shop was a shed on the square, but the hospital eventually gave us a room in the entrance and we doubled the shop size.”

Barbara has seen what has been achieved by the efforts made by the Friends group over the years and says: “We are so lucky to have such a terrific team of volunteers and it is good to know that the work of the Friends makes such a difference at the hospital.”

For Jenny Gillingham, being a volunteer with the Friends at Broomfield Hospital runs in the family. Jenny’s mother was a volunteer with the Friends for about 22 years, which is how Jenny came to join. As she spent an increasing amount of her time volunteering Jenny found that she enjoyed it more and more, so her involvement grew over the years.

Jenny has had personal experience of extensive treatment in the NHS and wanted to give something back. She has been in an out of various hospitals for most of her life and feels that her voluntary work with the Friends is an ideal way of saying thank you for the help and care that she has received.

She finds it very gratifying to know that all the profits made from the services run by the Friends go directly back to Broomfield Hospital.

“Every penny of the profit we make is given to the hospital for the purchase of equipment requested by doctors and other medical staff. Our aim is to help provide the very best patient care possible and this is our priority when deciding just where the money goes.”

John Hughes – President of the Friends at Broomfield Hospital

Our Trolleys

The trolley services run by Friends at Broomfield Hospital volunteers are invaluable for patients on the wards. Newspapers, toiletries, confectionery and other items are sold from the trolleys which are taken around the wards by volunteers every day of the week.

The Library trolley is also a welcome sight for patients who can choose books brought to them by Friends at Broomfield Hospital volunteers.

The volunteers visit wards and departments throughout the hospital and their friendly approach is appreciated as much as the chance to select a good book to help pass the time while in hospital.

The service runs twice a week and offers a wide selection of books for patients to choose from. Donations of books for the service are gratefully received by the hospital.

Roger and Marion Gardiner are two of the current library volunteers. Roger, who used to work for an insurance company, loves reading, so being able to help choose a suitable book for a patients reading taste is an ideal role for him.

Marion said: “A large part of taking the library trolley to the wards is a little light conversation with certain patients. This is no hardship for me, as I enjoy getting into conversations with people. Volunteering suits my nature and I am, very much a people person.”

Volunteer today!

To volunteer for the Friends at Broomfield Hospital and for more information call 01245 443 285

“The Friends – Supporting your hospital, supporting you”