As part of the celebrations of our 25th Anniversary, we’ve put together a brilliant selection of projects and items that your donations could fund right across NHS in Somerset. A full list of what we are funding this year is below and you can help by donating, taking part in a challenge, hosting an event or putting us in touch with a local group or business!
We’re raising funds to give out 10 £3,000 grants to garden spaces at NHS sites across the County to help improve outdoor areas for use by patients, their families and carers as well as our colleagues.
This money could be spent on everything from garden furniture, plants and flowers to allotment equipment and garden sheds, whatever the specific site needs.
We’re also raising funds for an outdoor shelter for our colleagues that work in Barton House at Musgrove Park Hospital, giving them much needed outdoor seating.
Pictured is just one of the garden spaces that will receive a make over!
We will be funding Dementia Support Boxes for every clinical space run by Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. The boxes will include practical items like hearing aid batteries, glasses wipes and a magnifying glass as well as activities like crossword books, large print cards and sensory items. These will make a huge impact to patients that need additional support and enable our colleagues to go the extra mile.
Our Charity recently completed a £120,000 fundraising appeal to transform Eliot Ward at Musgrove Park Hospital, a Ward that cares for patients who come into Hospital with dementia or delirium and so we are continuing our support for those patients that might have additional care needs.
Pictured is Dementia and Delirium Specialist Nurse Becky who has helped us to put this project together so it is fit for purpose.
We we’re thrilled to use some of the incredible amount donated to Our Charity during the first months of the Covid-19 Pandemic to purchase a number of iPads to support patients to communicate with loved ones while isolated in Hospital.
Since then, the need and ways they can be used by our NHS colleagues to support patients and families has only grown, so during our 25th year we will purchase 50 more to be give out across the County.
These will be used for communication, to support our younger patients and distract them during procedures and for activities that can aid patients with recovery in many different departments like stroke and neurological rehabilitation.
We’re working with our colleagues at both South Petherton and Williton Community Hospital Stroke Rehabilitation Units to donate extra equipment. First on the list is additional wheelchairs, shower chairs and tilt-in-space arm chairs, all which go above and beyond to help in the recovery after a stroke.
Included in the equipment list is microwaves and other kitchen items so our NHS colleagues can work with patients to make sure they can function independently when they leave the Units.
We’ll also be purchasing outdoor gym equipment, the kind you’d find in more up-to-date playgrounds, to aid in outdoor rehabilitation and exercise.
Pictured is the Activity Room at South Petherton, somewhere that will benefit from funding during our 25th Anniversary Appeal!
Love Musgrove has a brilliant track record of funding equipment at Musgrove Park Hospital and our 25th year will be no different.
The list includes:
We will be funding Research into the effects of Hypnotherapy on Postoperative Analgesia following colectomies. This research will take time to understand if Hypnotherapy can help with pain after colon surgery and has the potential to make a significant difference to the way patients are cared for and have their recovery supported.
This research will be done at Musgrove Park Hospital and be led by our excellent Clinical Research Team and one of our current Junior Sisters Ana.
Our Charity has a long history of funding research, having spend over £2.3 million over the last 25 years and we are proud to be continuing this as we celebrate our Anniversary!
Musgrove Park Hospital has a number of departments delivering care within a day, meaning patients who don’t need to won’t be admitted as an inpatient. We have worked with colleagues in these departments to find ways to make environments more comfortable and to make other improvements.
We will provide some TVs and radios as well as a refreshments trolley for patients waiting in the Medical Day Unit (MDU). MDU delivers various planned, non-urgent treatments if patients have a long-term condition that requires regular hospital treatment.
Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC) will also receive support, with a refurbishment of their waiting area and toilet as well as the purchase of a new bloods trolley and waiting room TV.
Pictured is the Same Day Emergency Care waiting room, which you donations will help improve.
A brand new Hydrotherapy Pool has recently opened at Dene Barton Community Hospital and with your donations we will give them funds to and some extras that will make all the difference.
The pool supports a huge range of patients from those being seen by the Breast Care Team, those having radiotherapy and chemotherapy, patients recovering from spinal injuries or a stroke and sees lots of Children too.
Your support will allow the team to install brand new art work, add plants and purchase a radio.
The team at Rowan Ward, Summerlands Hospital Site in Yeovil have recently created a brand new sensory room for patients staying with them and your donations will support the introduction of a massage chair to help sooth patients using the room.
Running like a real College, the Somerset Recovery College has students who are people from Somerset interested to learn life skills in order to experience good mental health, people with lived experience of mental health difficulties, their family and friends, and the professionals who support them.
Spread out across the County and with students less able to meet in person, your donations will allow the College to send out enrolment packs that will make the students feel more like part of a community and include valuable information and support.
We’re teaming up with Art for Life to launch a Trust wide Music Therapy and Engagement programme when Covid-19 restrictions allow.
This will include working with local artists to deliver music in NHS settings, both public and in clinical spaces to patients that would benefit from live music. A number of sessions will be interactive and this
will help improve patient experience and bring joy to those spending time with us!
Pictured is a music performance at Musgrove Park Hospital before the pandemic.
A RITA (Reminiscence Interactive Therapy Activities) system is a 22inch screen and iPad. The package includes music, karaoke, stories, radio shows, reminiscence, relaxation, video & TV clips (e.g. Old classic clips), sports interviews from famous people, movies (50 from Judy Garland to The Greatest Showman), a variety of interactive games including whack-a-mole, jigsaws, books & quizzes.
There are activities like design a garden or aquarium, create a painting, make a greetings card, fill in a life story book or make a photo album. Photos can be scanned into the system and there is also an app for patients who have little or no communication, it’s called ‘Show me where it hurts’ which is very useful for the medical team.
We’ve been working with the Activities Coordinator at Crewkerne Community Hospital who will be using it with dementia patients, one-to-ones, group work and bedside activities, putting the system to excellent use.
With your donations we’ll be purchasing two brand new iCare IC100 Tonometers, used by our eye care teams at Minehead Community Hospital. The team currently has one device, so providing two new ones will increase capacity of the department and allow patients to be seen quicker.
Tonometry is a diagnostic test that measures the pressure inside your eye, which is called intraocular pressure. This measurement can help your doctor determine whether or not you may be at risk of glaucoma.
Glaucoma is a serious eye disease that can eventually lead to vision loss if untreated. In most cases of glaucoma, the fluid that normally bathes and nourishes the eye drains too slowly, causing pressure to build up.
DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy), a type of talking therapy, is currently delivered to adults of all ages across our Mental Health service. Our Older Adult Community Mental Health Team identified that some of the older adults they were working with didn’t identify with this therapy as much as younger adults and so with your donations, we will train 15 of our colleagues to deliver specialist Older Adult DBT.
The course is run by The Association for Psychological Therapies and will allow our Older Adult Mental Health Team, many of whom work part time, to take the course and continue to see patients.
Giving polo shirts to our incredible Volunteers who greet patients and their families, taking care of administrative tasks, being dementia buddies and gardeners.
These polos will help them stand out enabling patients and their families to find them more easily. Your support will also be such a morale boost for the team, helping show how valued they are!
We have over 750 amazing volunteers currently within Somerset NHS Foundation Trust. Volunteers are located in our hospitals include: Musgrove Park in Taunton, and the community hospitals in South Petherton, Frome, Minehead, Crewkerne, Williton, Burnham-On-Sea and Bridgwater. We also have volunteers in Carer and Recovery Partner roles across the county.
Our volunteers on average give three hours of their time a week. That works out to approximately 117,000 hours of volunteering in a whole year!
