Charity’s three decades

A charity that supports Lincolnshire hospitals is celebrating 30 years of work.
United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity has provided care and support for patients, their families and staff who look after them across Lincolnshire’s hospitals.
Since it was established on September 17, 1996, the charity has been helping to transform healthcare in Lincolnshire’s hospitals, by funding the extras which cannot be provided by the NHS alone.
Chair of Lincolnshire Community and Hospitals NHS Group, Rebecca Brown said: “Today, more than 950,000 patients come through the doors of Lincolnshire’s acute hospitals every year.
“For some this will be a new and daunting experience, for others it may be the start of a long journey through different departments, creating anguish for themselves and their loves ones.
“For 30 years United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity has existed to make every visit that little bit easier.”
In the last five years alone, the charity has raised over £3.3million, funding life-saving equipment, investing in new technologies, making improvements to hospital gardens, supporting staff wellbeing and providing those added extras that make a significant difference to patients and their families.
Among the projects funded by the charity are specialist head and neck cradles, which offer more comfort to patients with head and throat cancers when receiving radiotherapy treatment. Support has also been given to the neonatal units at Lincoln County Hospital and Pilgrim Hospital, Boston, with two revolutionary cooling machines which prevent brain damage in newborn babies following complications at birth.
The charity also provides additional equipment that has a significant impact on the wellbeing of patients. This includes the Kitten Scanner play therapy machine for children, to help them prepare for MRI scans in a fun and reassuring way. Rebecca said it was a time of celebration for the charity: “Every patient and family using our hospitals has benefitted from our charity in some way, and we must ensure that United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity continues to provide this unwavering support for the next 30 years.
“We would like to thank all our supporters for their kindness and generosity.
“Their donations allow our patients to benefit from the best care, treatment and experience possible. Everything we have achieved over the past 30 years has been made possible because of their continued support.”