Thank you so much to everyone in our communities who has donated gifts and made charitable contributions to our hospital teams during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
We have been overwhelmed by people’s generosity and community spirit, as scrubs, food parcels and thank you messages have arrived, and fundraising for our COVID-19 Staff Wellbeing fund has reached £360,000.
We know that lots of local people and organisations are thinking of how they can support the NHS, our staff and our patients as Christmas is approaching and we face another wave of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
We want to make sure the donations we receive reach our staff and patients safely and that the gifts are the things they really need. To help, we have dedicated Charity and Fundraising team to coordinate and support all donations. Please contact the charity team if you’d like to make a donation to any of our teams.
Mandy Jordan, our associate director of Charities, said: “This year has shown us more than ever how supportive our local communities can be. Every donation is so very warmly received by our staff and patients.
“COVID-19 has changed everything, and unfortunately under the new restrictions we will be unable to accept any food items or physical gifts and donations for staff or patients at our sites. The best way our communities can support our staff is to donate towards our COVID-19 staff wellbeing fund to aid the welfare and wellbeing of our NHS teams during this difficult time.
“And we have some new ways of supporting our patient fundraising appeals too. Because of pandemic restrictions, we are having to receive donations in different ways at the moment. It’s important you stay at home and stay safe, so we’ve come up with some other ways you can make donations this year.”
We are unable to have our usual Christmas present Giving Trees or accept gifts for patients this Christmas so we will instead be launching a Virtual Christmas Appeal. Everyone who donates will be able to add a light, bauble or present to our virtual Christmas tree and a personal message added to our interactive festive scene. It will be quick and easy to use and supporters will have the choice to donate to either The Children’s Appeal (to build a new Children’s department) at Ipswich Hospital or the Children’s Department at Colchester Hospital.
We are also launching a new range of Christmas cards, wrapping paper and gifts online which can be personalised. Twenty five percent of all sales will benefit our hospitals.
If you would like to find out more about fundraising during this difficult time or making donations, please get in touch with the Charity team – please do not send gifts in the post or arrive on site. We have this week suspended all but exceptional visiting to our hospitals again.
Find out more ways you can support our staff and patients with the Colchester & Ipswich Hospitals Charity (opens in a new page)
The supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals has much improved and we have all the supplies we need at our hospitals. Thanks for all the donations we’ve received so far, but we are now not asking for scrubs, facemasks or any other PPE donations.
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