Forever Friends - Special Appeals
Critical Care Unit Special Appeal: Target £150,000
The unit delivers lifesaving treatment to the most unwell and most vulnerable two per cent of patients at the RUH. n It has 13 beds and treats patients of any age with any life-threatening condition. n 850 patients are treated in the unit every year for conditions such as severe pneumonia, cardiac arrest, cancer, organ failure, life threatening infections affecting any part of the body and severe sepsis, complications around pregnancy, and following major elective surgery. n 82 per cent of patients survive. An extra 20 patients survive critical illness every year because they are admitted to the well-performing unit. n The unit plans to install patient care service columns to better manage the lifesaving equipment, pumps, leads, wires and tubes found around the patient’s bed. This will help dramatically transform and enhance patient safety in time critical, life threatening scenarios.
Breast Unit – Service Expansion Special Appeal: Target £450,000
The RUH Breast Unit provides an integrated range of services for patients with breast conditions, including rapid access diagnostic clinics by a team of dedicated specialists. It has state of the art breast imaging equipment and is one of very few trusts in the region with digital mammography, breast tomosynthesis and breast MRI. The unit also offers women a comprehensive service for oncoplastic and breast reconstruction. n The vast majority of patients are women, but the unit also sees men with breast problems too and two or three of them will be diagnosed with breast cancer. n Over 3,500 patients are referred to the unit every year. n About 400 of these will be diagnosed with cancer. The expanded unit will have a new area for mammographic and MRI reporting, an improved waiting area and peace garden, enlarged consultation suites and examination areas, and a dedicated treatment room to support day care surgery, which will allow breast care nurses to support patients and carers during the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
The Friendly Faces Project Special Appeal: Target £30,000
Every three minutes someone in the UK develops dementia. The Friendly Faces Project recruits volunteers who can come to the RUH and go on wards across the hospital and be a ‘friendly face’ during the patients stay at what can be a distressing and confusing time. A friendly face can be having someone to sit and talk to, playing a game of cards, or even singing! It also provides various sessions on the wards including a movement class, and art sessions. The project’s three-year aim is to provide patients with outstanding dementia care, with the vision of becoming the leading dementia friendly hospital in England by 2020. In its first 12 months, Friendly Faces volunteers have spent more than 980 hours with patients who have dementia. The aim of the project is to provide an estimated 160 volunteer placements and 4,800 hours of care to patients with dementia at the RUH.
Facial Surgery & Orthodontics Unit Special Appeal: Target £200,000+
The Facial Surgery and Orthodontics Unit at the Royal United Hospitals Bath is often seen as the bridge between medicine and dentistry. It provides diagnosis and management of facial injuries, head and neck cancers, salivary gland diseases, facial disproportion and pain, impacted teeth, orthopaedics, orthodontics, cysts and tumours of the jaws as well as numerous problems such as mouth ulcers and infections The department will ensure that the Maxillofacial (head and neck) surgeons can work seamlessly alongside specialists in other fields – such as ear, nose and throat surgeons, clinical oncologists, plastic surgeons, orthodontists, restorative dentists, radiologists and neurosurgeons. The use of natural light, colours and art in the new unit will help improve patient wellbeing.