We know that a visit to A&E is never going to be a fun experience but if you can spare 10p you could help us make it a little bit easier.
Today, as we mark the 73rd birthday of the NHS, we’re appealing for your help to raise £70,000 for some added little touches that can make a big difference.
The appeal is being led by our official charity the Health Tree Foundation (HTF) who’ve crunched some numbers and worked out that if every adult in North and North East Lincolnshire gives us just 10p, we’ll raise over £30,000.
That’s almost half our target for the price of a single-use plastic carrier bag (if you can think of anything better than that that you can get for 10p you’re doing better than us!).
And instead of a crummy carrier bag, if you give your 10p to us, it will go towards fantastic facilities like:
- Mobile gaming units and interactive floors to help keep our younger patients amused while they’re waiting to be seen
- FREE mobile phone charging facilities to keep you entertained and in touch with your loved ones
- Sky Inside artificial skylight panels to help provide a more pleasant focal point for patients in our pediatric and resuscitation cubicles
- Screens which can be used as TVs and digital information screens.
The cost of installing all this in the new Emergency Departments we’re building in Grimsby and Scunthorpe is just £35,000 per site and it’s all been picked out by our Emergency Department staff based on what they see in our A&E every day.
Can you spare more than 10p?
So do you think you can help?
If you can spare a bit more than 10p, how about £9.99 to help you if you need to dial 999 – or maybe you could organise a fundraising event to really help us get things moving.
As part of our birthday celebrations today, a number of ‘Big Tea’ events will be taking place to raise funds and say thank you for all the hard work of our staff, who always give their all but have gone that extra mile during the global pandemic.
Clare Woodard, charity manager, said: “It is very exciting to be able to launch this appeal on the same day as the NHS birthday.
“Sadly, most people will need to visit A&E at some point during their lives – either as a patient or accompanying a loved one.
“We want to make what is never going to be a nice experience as pleasant as possible.
“These additional enhancements will make their next visit easier – whether that’s by helping to distract or entertain younger patients or something as simple as being able to charge their phone.
“Please get behind this appeal and donate what you can or organise an event to raise funds. Let’s make these new A&Es the best they can be!”
Fundraising events already in the pipeline include a charity cricket match between NLaG doctors and local GPs, an open water swim and bake sales.
If you want to organise an event, please contact the Health Tree Foundation and they will provide details and a fundraising pack.
You can donate to the campaign via https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/AEGrimsby and https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/AEScunthorpe.
