Nominations are open for this year’s Who Cares Wins Awards, of which NHS Charities Together
is a partner with The Sun. These awards honour our extraordinary healthcare workforce who continue to be there for us, from the pandemic and beyond.

There is an award up for grabs for Best Health Charity and Northamptonshire Health Charity would really love to be nominated for this. It would help with raising the charity’s profile about all of the amazing projects they are able to fund across the local NHS hospitals and community services thanks to their many wonderful donors and fundraisers.

It is a really quick and simple process to nominate so head to thesun.co.uk/whocareswins

The charity team works hard all year-round supporting donors and fundraisers who want to give something back to their local NHS hospitals across Northamptonshire as a thank you for the care they or their loved ones have received. This enables them to fund a wide range of equipment, projects, and initiatives to enhance the care and experience for patients.

Just a few of the projects funded over the last twelve months include:

Northampton General Hospital (NGH)

The first two Swan Rooms have opened on wards at NGH. A pilot project led by the Deputy Lead Nurse for Palliative and End of Life Care; these rooms support people who are staying with their relatives receiving end-of-life care while in hospital. The environment of the room has been totally transformed, offering somewhere that feels more soothing and comfortable for the patient but that is also making a big difference to relatives at this difficult time.

With a comfortable memory foam chair, which can be opened out fully to rest/sleep on, there is also a locker housing a number of other resources – Bluetooth speaker; phone charger; battery-operated candles; a small comfort pack containing toiletries; and a drinks station so that people can make themselves a hot drink without having to rely on the canteen or ward staff.

There has been a lot of very positive feedback from families so far, many of who have subsequently made donations to the charity to help fund other Swan Rooms across the hospital.

Kettering General Hospital (NGH)

Chemotherapy Pumps for Lilford Ward at KGH, an infusion pump that allows two streams of medication to be given simulatively within a closed system. These lead to enhanced patient experiences, safer medication administration, and less risk of extravasation. They also enable improved medication administration timing and mean that due to replacing manual processes with mechanised processes, specialist staff can be retained in post for the benefit of patients and service provision.

Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHFT):

Following the official opening of ‘Shed Sheeran’ last summer at the Welland Centre, St Mary’s Hospital in Kettering (part of Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust) and the continuous positive impact this project has on the recovery of adult mental health patients, the charity is funding a similar shed project to support mental health patients at Berrywood Hospital in Northampton.

This provides a space for volunteers and patients to create bespoke and innovative designs, promoting and aiding recovery by imbuing them with a sense of responsibility and purpose, with the confidence to complete new tasks and celebrate their own achievements. Patients learn new skills, achieve accomplishments and grow their confidence.

Charity Fundraiser, Robert Powell said, 
It would mean so much to us to receive recognition by being nominated for the Who Cares Wins Best Health Charity award for all the ways Northamptonshire Health Charity helps to enhance patient care and experience across the three local NHS Trusts we support. It really would be a great way to raise our profile and awareness that we exist but also, for us to share this recognition with all of our many supporters. Without them donating and raising funds for us the way they do; we couldn’t make such a difference.

Nominate Northamptonshire Health Charity for the Best Health Charity award by visiting thesun.co.uk/whocareswins.