Charity: activities, achievements and performance – 2018-2019

Charity activities, achievements and performance

An extract from the Annual Trustees Report 2018-2019:

A variety of projects benefiting Trust patients, visitors and staff have been funded by the Charity. Some of the main projects of the year under review include:

1 Patient Welfare and Amenities

A total of £1,747,000 (2017/2018: £814,000) has been invested in Patient Welfare and Amenities.

Making grants and sponsoring projects related to enhancing patient wellbeing and care is the most direct way the Charity can fulfil its charitable objectives and the Trustees have prioritised expenditure in this area. This category of charitable expenditure covers the purchase of medical equipment, the cost of projects which improve patient care and monitoring and improving the hospital facilities and furnishings.

Funds were invested in new medical equipment during the year for the benefit of patients. Some of the equipment provided were:

Digital Signage Roll-Out: this equipment helps to refresh the entrance areas of the various hospitals within the Trust and provide the public with information screens. The equipment helps to create an environment that is warm, welcoming and professional to visitors to the Trust.
Video Conferencing Roll-Out: this equipment provides video conferencing for the Anaesthetic Department.
Falls Alarms: this equipment is used by older, frail, confused patients and helps to reduce falls, which could impact their health.
Wax Bath and various other equipment: this equipment is used by patients at the NSIC. It helps patients who are suffering from both long and short term impaired mobility due to suffering or recovering from the effects of a stroke.
Hoists for the NSIC: this equipment enables patients who are immobile or experiencing short-term reduced mobility to go about their lives independently, whilst maintaining their dignity.
Xcite Functional Electrical Stimulation System: this equipment enables patients within the NSIC with their rehabilitation to help achieve their goal towards mobility.
Ophthalmology Video Slit Lamp and Indirect Ophthalmoscope: this eye equipment enables the ophthalmologist to retain complex information. This can be for example, when they undertake an examination for eye disease. The information can then be demonstrated to the patient, which enables them to see what the ophthalmologist is doing.
Blanket Warming Cabinets: this equipment provides comfort to the patients, especially pre- and post-operation. The anaesthetic rooms can be cold due to the air exchange and the offer of a warmed blanket can aid patients in their care and well-being.

The Charity also invested in different projects established to enhance the care provided to the patients of Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust and improve performance. Some of the highlights include:

The design and production of a commercial for the Maternity unit, subsequently used in a Public Engagement Roadshow and then on the Trust’s social media platforms such as YouTube and Twitter as well as within the Trust.
The use of Psychosexual Therapy Sessions with patients from the NSIC, with a qualified trained therapist.

Additionally, the Charitable Funds have also supported A&E staff with the introduction of the Oak Communications Intranet System. This cloud-based system, enables them to access patient records and more importantly, share information on a patient’s treatment and the correct clinical pathway.

2 Staff Welfare and Amenities

A total of £126,000 (2017/2018: £87,000) has been spent on Staff Welfare and Amenities.

The Trustees fully support the view that a healthy and motivated workforce is a more effective workforce and there is a real benefit to patient care. Therefore they have continued to support “the Health and Wellbeing project” which is achieving benefits to staff morale and health through the provision of counselling and physiotherapy programmes.

In addition, the Charity has supported activities aimed at improving individual and team morale, through trust-wide and departmental staff awards for excellent patient care.

The Trustees also funded the Working Longer Project Strategy. The working longer strategy is aimed at retaining nurses over 51+ or encouraging those nurses, who have retired from the Trust, to return. This project enables the HR department to implement a multi-pronged strategy to ensure this valuable group of nurses, which are part of our quality improvement strategy, are retained.

3 Training and Education

A total of £110,000 (2017/2018: £81,000) has been spent on staff training and development.

The Charity plays a significant role in the development of the staff within the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. Support is provided to a variety of activities including conferences, workshops and individual training. Support has both enhanced broad personal development and has improved skills directly related to patient care. Some of these training activities included:

MSc in Sports Cardiology with St. George’s University of London.
Top Manager Programme for 2018 Course with The King’s Fund, London.
Heart Rhythm Society Annual Scientific Sessions in Boston, USA.
The ACC’s Annual Scientific Session & Expo, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
Annual SAS Doctors Updates in Val d’Isere, France.
European Society of Cardiology Congress, Munich, Germany.
ANNP Course with the University of Southampton, UK.
Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society Scientific Session, Taipei, Taiwan.
International Spinal Cord Society Annual Scientific Meeting, Sydney, Australia.

4 Research

A total of £4,000 (2017/2018: £279,000) has been invested in research during 2018/19. This is due to the fact that the research projects from previous years were completed.

The active research studies were aimed to improve patient’s quality of life. The research studies that were supported by the Charitable Fund were:

Research project manager for next step in becoming world leading in paediatric spinal cord injury research.
The Ann Masson Research Fellowship to support the development of research initiatives within the National Spinal Injury Centre.

Additional details about these projects are shown in note 19 on pages 42-44

5 Other activities

A total of £2,000 (2017/2018: £2,000) has been spent on other charitable activities. This category includes small miscellaneous transactions.