Penrith Community Hospital League of Friends has donated nearly £23,000 of new equipment to the town’s hospital and community teams.
Linda Bell, Chair of the hospital’s League of Friends group, said: “The money used to purchase the items has come from events, donations, and bequests from the people of Penrith and the Eden Valley over many years. Unfortunately, our income from events over the last two years has been severely restricted due to COVID.”
Some of the new items purchased include:
- A bladder scanner for Eden ICC costing £4,500
- A TV screen for ICC hub costing £919
- Kitchen equipment for OT kitchen on Eden Unit costing £174
- A Multi tilt chair for the ward costing £2,217
- A Riser /Recliner for the ward costing £1,499
- Two Nail drills for Podiatry costing £1,550
- One mini doppler for ICC costing £983
- And finally, 20 patient chairs for the ward costing £11,093
Linda said: “I know the patients and staff will all benefit from these purchases.”
Christine Stewart, Eden ICC Community Manager, said: “We are very fortunate in Eden to have such amazing and generous support from our League of Friends. They are always responsive to our requests.
“There are lots of lovely things they also do in addition to requests we make, such as gifts of tea and coffee at Christmas time.
“The bladder scanner is absolutely invaluable as a diagnostic tool as it has enabled us to support patients at home - therefore avoiding hospital admissions - and the TV which means we can link with other teams and colleagues via MS Teams.
“We are grateful for all the support given to us by the League of Friends.”
Ashley Macaulay, Ward Manager at Penrith Hospital, said: “The League of Friends have been instrumental in ensuring the new ward has everything to absolutely maximise its potential for our patients.”
And Grace Messenger, Head of Podiatry at North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The LOF has always be a great help to podiatry and have recently agreed to fund two new nail drills which would have been a considerable expense to the department. I was amazed at how quickly they responded to our application. Thank you for everything.”