£1.5m ‘Captain Tom’ cash for hospitals charity
THE Newcastle Hospitals Charity (NHC) has been awarded the biggest share of ‘Captain Tom money’ in the country as part of a bid to support eight community projects around the North East all devoted to helping people recover from the impact of the pandemic.
The NHC led a bid for funding on behalf of the 11 NHS charities in the North East and North Cumbria area – and was awarded £1,567,845 from the NHS Charities Together Covid-19 Response funding pot.
The money will support projects from groups including Barnardo’s, Coping With Cancer North East, Family Action, Wearside Women in Need and Your Voice Counts.
It will also help NHS-run projects such as the North East and North Cumbria Child Health and Wellbeing Network, which is running schemes tackling issues including mental health first aid
NHC director Teri Bayliss said: “The idea of this is to understand and tackle the community impact of the pandemic, particularly in the most disadvantaged communities.
“Most hospital charities have generally looked within the walls of the hospital, but our strategy highlights we want to work around the sector.
“In this case we were focused very much on the pandemic and the health impact it’s had, in the broadest sense from mental health to physical health.
“It was the largest award given in the UK. Ultimately we as a charity are committed to partnership working and we believe this grant will do so much to help people across the North East and North Cumbria. It won’t be enough – it’s never enough – but it’s helpful.”
Teri said there had been a “significant number” of charities apply to receive a share of the funding, but that the eight projects chosen best met the objectives of helping the region’s hard-hit communities bounce back from the Covid-19 crisis.
“It’s part of our role as a charity which works both with the Trust and the community. We’ve consulted with the community sector throughout the pandemic and it’s been clear just how much it has impacted on everyone,” she said.
The projects will be funded for two years.
At the end of October Ms Bayliss is joining paediatric consultant Dr Mike McKean – who is also the clinical lead for the North East and North Cumbria Child Health and Wellbeing Network – and other medics from around the country to cycle hundreds of miles between London and Glasgow’s COP26 summit, via some of the nation’s biggest children’s hospitals.
The aim of the challenge, called Ride For Their Lives, is to raise awareness of the impact of air pollution on public health and fundraise to support the work done at hospitals to become more sustainable.
Ms Bayliss added: “I do quite a bit of cycling anyway but it’s still daunting to see that it’s going to be 60 to 90 miles every day. And I’m sure at the end of October it’s not going to be lovely weather every day.
“It’s a challenge but I’m looking forward to it. What it represents and what we are doing is incredible, and it’s an analogy about a challenge – we are having to tackle it chunk by chunk.”
To sponsor the Newcastle Hospitals cyclists, visit justgiving.com/campaign/ridefortheirlives.