League of Friends donates £75,000 for hospital equipment

Tuesday 02 June 2020

The charity that runs the hospital shop and café has donated £75,000 – 80% of its reserves – to buy a ventilator for the Intensive Care Unit as well as other medical equipment to assist during breast biopsies.

The League of Friends of the Jersey Group of Hospital maintains an annual programme of donations to fund essential medical equipment through the money it makes in the café and shop, and its reserves.

It started in 1977 with a service for visitors whose holidays had ended with a visit to the hospital, later expanding to a trolley service at the General Hospital, Overdale and Grouville Annexe. 

Later the League was provided with space in the Hospital for a café and a shop, which are run entirely by volunteers and earn profits of around £70k every year. 

Since it opened, the League has donated over £1million to the Hospital. 

Pictured: The café and shop at the hospital have been closed since early March.

The café and shop were closed in early March when shielding and self-isolation guidance was issued, and the space has since been temporarily converted to a quiet rest area for hospital staff.

Café stocks were donated to the Shelter Trust and the shop stock of drinks, snacks and chocolate was donated to hospital staff. 

Meanwhile, the charity’s equipment is in storage, awaiting the time when the café and shop will be able to re-open and resume services, including the daily ward trolley service for in-patients. 

Despite the lack of money the closure has incurred, the charity has made a one-off donation of £75,000 from its reserves to the Hospital.

The donation will help fund the purchase of  a vacuum-assisted breast biopsy unit for the Radiography (Mammography) Department at a cost of £30,000, as part of the regular donation programme.

Pictured: The donation will help fund a ventilator for the ICU.

The rest will cover the cost of a ventilator for the ICU along with syringe drivers and pulse oximetry units, which may be needed as part of the pandemic response but will "outlast" the crisis and remain in use in the hospital for some years.

The Charity chairman, Lady Bailhache, explained that while the League’s profits will be “negligible” this year, they wanted to do something to support the Hospital in these exceptional times. 

“A donation from our reserves was the obvious step,” she said.

“Our excellent continuing relationship with the Hospital management team means we can direct our funding to where it will be most useful. 

“It is a tribute to all our volunteers, many of whom are past retirement age, that we are in a position to do so and special thanks are due to them for their work."

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