How West Suffolk Hospital charity My WiSH adapted to support its NHS heroes
When Covid turned the world upside down and left the NHS facing the fight of its life, the crisis brought with it a huge dilemma ... who cares for the carers?
At West Suffolk Hospital, in Bury St Edmunds, the answer was clear. With frontline staff driven close to breaking point the hospital’s My WiSH Charity rapidly stepped up.
Its focus widened from providing a better experience for patients to doing its utmost to support the staff, so they in turn could do their best for those in their care.
The charity’s team of five, led by head of fund-raising Sue Smith, took on tasks from creating calm rooms to buying stacks of loo roll to help staff hit by supermarket shortages.
“We just rolled up our sleeves and got on with it, the team were amazing and all went above and beyond their normal roles,” said Sue.
She worked through the night setting up a new fund to support those in the forefront of the fight against the disease which was then a terrifying and unknown enemy.
The Help Your Hospital NHS Covid Appeal has so far raised well over £300,000.
“What we have been able to do with that money over the last 18 months is to go to the core of where patients and staff needed extra support,” Sue explained.
“When we launched the appeal our first Covid ward was open to receive patients. Staff were leaving their families at home and coming in knowing they could catch this disease.
“It was an unprecedented situation. Our priority had always been about families and patient support, but Covid turned that on its head. We needed to support the staff to support the patients.
I was running around taking care of staff but I wasn’t in the thick of it. I can’t imagine how difficult it was for staff members. They’re all heroes and I will do this as long as I can for people taking care of people.
“When the community started going out on Thursdays and clapping for the NHS it was humbling and the support was amazing.
“On the first evening everyone clapped I stood up at my front window and sobbed. Thinking about it still makes me well up.”
The charity does not just work for the hospital but for the whole West Suffolk Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which also includes Newmarket Hospital and community services.
The start of the pandemic saw panic buying and shortages which often meant doctors and nurses finishing a long shift to be faced with empty supermarket shelves.
“The first thing we did was bought loo rolls, bleach, tea, coffee, and sanitiser,” said Sue. "We bagged it all together and gave it to the staff who were desperately in need of those things. Our volunteers office was stacked up with toilet rolls.”
As hospital beds filled with desperately sick Covid patients the workload took its toll on staff.
“We set up calm rooms to provide a safe space for them to spend quiet time,” said Sue. They were open 24 hours a day.
“People might say it’s just a room but it’s so much more when people feel they can’t go on.
“The rooms were filled with lamps, lights, and pictures – a nice warm, calming environment so you just feel peaceful. It made such a difference.
“We put in things like handcream and snacks. Donations of goods started to come in and we commandeered the car parking pod at the front of the hospital to receive them.”
Outside the hospital, the community also stepped up to the challenge – not just with money but in practical ways as well.
“The demand for scrubs was enormous because staff could be changing them up to 10 times a day.
“Our brilliant community set up a Facebook page, and we bought materials. People cut it out and distributed it to others who sewed them.
“It brought so many local communities together. It was amazing how everyone just got on with stuff.
“The attitude was ‘I’ve never used a sewing machine but I’m willing to give it a go’. They stepped outside their comfort zones and stepped up.
“People also knitted hearts. We weren’t allowing visitors in the hospital. Relatives could call and say they would like a heart to be delivered to a family member on a ward, and we could also send one out to the family member as well.
“It was just a little way of letting people feel they were still in contact. We are still continuing that in critical care.
“The community also provided us with knitted blankets for end of life and dementia patients to lay over their beds. These small things bring so much comfort.”
Dashing from place to place had an unexpected consequence for Sue, who broke a bone in her foot then needed surgery for nerve damage, which has left her with lasting problems and only able to wear ‘comfy’ shoes.
“I can remember feeling quite overwhelmed at one time. My home was work, and work was work. We got a caravan and put it in the front garden and that was my calm room.”
Fund-raisers of all ages made a mammoth effort to support the appeal. Ben Blowes, 47, ran 50 miles around his front garden and raised over £4,000.
Ben, from Gazeley, had to walk the last few miles as running in circles aggravated an old ankle injury.
Then there was seven year-old Freddie Turner, who made £1,925 with his online Fitness with Freddie coaching.
With help from his dad, Stu, a personal trainer, he put together a programme of exercises including squats, lunges and star jumps for the 20 minute workout filmed by his brother Ollie, nine.
Meanwhile, photographer Neil Baxter took photos of people on their doorsteps and raised over £1,200 selling them the pictures.
“People really thought outside the box and it helped their own mental health, too,” said Sue.
“The people who were making the scrubs were almost saddened when they didn’t have to do it any more.”
As the pandemic raged on through 2020 and 2021 the Covid Appeal helped in countless ways.
It paid to employ a play specialist, a part-time chaplain, and a staff psychologist for staff support.
Two marquees were set up because social distancing meant staff had nowhere to go for their breaks. Outside furniture was provided.
Cordless phones were provided for wards, along with smart devices. A fish tank was put in the library.
DVD players were supplied for the cardiac rehab team so patients could continue their rehab at home.
“We also bought a Motomed exercise machine for critical care which cost £4,500 which allows patients to exercise from their bed or chair,” Sue added.
“Also, what seems so minimal but had such a huge impact, was staff ID labels. With PPE everyone was looking the same.”
Pens, pencils, art supplies, and TV sets for every side room at Newmarket Hospital were also financed.
At Christmas 2020, two appeals provided a gift for every patient in WSH and Newmarket Hospital and residents at Glastonbury Court care home. Every member of staff received a reusable cup with a chocolate in it, and staffrooms were given a makeover.
Alongside all the efforts to ease the Covid trauma, community fund-raising for special projects, and MyWiSH’s other work, has continued.
Molly and Jack Deal from Cavenham – who had suffered a miscarriage – raised over £7,000 which will pay for memory boxes for parents enduring similar tragedies.
They set out to cycle the 300 miles between Bury and its French twin town Compiegne on a static bike but finished up covering more than twice the distance.
The charity gave £60,000 towards a changing place toilet facility for older children and adults.
And umbrellas have been provided for staff having to walk outside to different parts of the hospital while building work is being done.
“Fortunately, we have been able to go back out into the community and do talks and a slide show,” said Sue.
“We celebrated the charity’s 25th anniversary last year, launched our 25 Appeal, and managed to raise £25,000 which got people out of thinking everything Covid. Now we can employ our play specialist for an extra year.
“You can’t do everything but you just have to do as much as you can. If people say they want their money to go to the cancer unit, or emergency department, that’s where it goes.
“If they give to the general fund anyone in the trust can apply for it. In a year, we pay out anything from £500,000 to £1 million.
“A lot of the time the majority of our income is from legacies. People can leave the money for a specific purpose. Half the funding for the diagnostic part of the new cardio unit was from a legacy.
“Buying other stuff has never stopped. They are things that are enhancing care, the ‘above and beyond’.
“If a patient comes to us and says ‘you know what would be nice...’ If it’s possible we will do it.
“There are so many ways in which we can enhance the care. Some are major things like the cardio diagnostic unit, and some are tiny.
“Someone once came up to me when I was out with a bucket and said here’s £10, but it’s only £10.
“With that £10 we bought 100 little purple voile bags so that when someone comes to collect a loved-one’s personal belongings after they’ve died, we can put them in that rather than an envelope. So never think ‘it’s just £10.’
“A Parkinson’s nurse said what would be really helpful would be some timers so they could put on the times our patients need to take their medications. They’re £20 each and she wanted 45.
“I went to St Edmundsbury Male Voice Choir concert at the Apex and was invited to do a talk and we got all the money on the night.
“Now, the staff support is still running but we are opening up events again this year. The Swimarathon hosted by Bury Rotary Club takes place in March.”
Anyone up for a thrill is invited to join in a fund-raising skydive in June. And people can raise money without the adrenaline rush by hosting an NHS tea party in July.
The popular soap box challenge, where contestants build their own vehicles and race down Bury’s Mount Road, is back in September. It usually raises up to £15,000.
The My WiSH team now consists of Sue, fund-raising manager Sally Daniels, who organises most of the events, fund-raising administrator Myra Ferrari, and finance officer Debbie Kent, with help from communications officer Lucy Proctor and volunteer Tom Ogden.
For more information call 01284 713466, email fundraising@wsh.nhs.uk or visit www.mywishcharity.co.uk
