Rockinghorse Appeal in aid of the Children’s Ward at the DGH

An appeal has been launched to raise money to improve facilities at the children’s ward at Eastbourne District General Hospital.
Children’s charity Rockinghorse aims to raise over £120,000 to help renovate Friston Ward and to make it more comfortable and entertaining for young patients.

The plans include creating a new adolescent room with more entertainment facilities, building a lounge for patients to be able to relax with their families in comfort and a new modernised playroom for the younger patients.

Friston Ward treats over 4,000 children and young people every year for a range of conditions including, common childhood complaints, such as eczema and asthma; emergency surgical cases; and those requiring long-term treatment, such as cystic fibrosis and cancer.

Liz Vaughan, Friston Ward Sister, spoke at the fundraising launch. She said: “We can’t thank Rockinghorse enough for their support and we need as many people as possible to help us raise the money.
“We have great facilities but unfortunately they are a bit old and in need of updating. We have parents, grandparents and siblings staying with us overnight as well as patients and we want up-to-date facilities for them.
“We have wanted to renovate areas of the ward to make them better for the children for a while and we are very excited that it will now be possible with this appeal. We take admissions from all over East Sussex so this will make a big difference to a lot of young patients and their families.”

Ollie Turner, 11, who has had severe cystic fibrosis since birth and is a regular patient in Friston Ward, was also at the launch. He said: “When you are in hospital, you want something that keeps you company. That is my computer console when I am at home, which they have got in the ward but a lot of people want to use it.

“It would be great to have more games consoles and to be able to watch TV with your mum and dad. There are a lot of toys for young children but it would be great to have more things to do for older patients.”
Rockinghorse aims to make life better for sick and disabled babies, children and teenagers across Sussex and Surrey. It raises money for a number of NHS organisations in the area to help provide cutting edge equipment and to improve medical and respite facilities for children and young people.

To donate money to the Friston Ward project or to find out how you can get involved, please call 01273 730286 or visit www.rockinghorse.org.uk

A Plea from Contact a Family for ALL Parents with a Disabled Child

On Friday 10 July, the new government launched a website to let the public have their say about public spending under the its spending review. The Government will be looking at the responses over the summer, so that they can publish their decisions in October. The discussions and decisions the government takes over the summer will determine how public money will be spent for the next four years.

I realize that this work is taking place at a time when it can be hard for parents to engage with things. However I cannot stress enough how important it is that as many families with disabled children as possible speak up. This is a critical time, and the decisions taken now will affect families with disabled children for the next few years. There is a real opportunity to make our views heard about the importance of investing in and protecting services for disabled children and their families.

The more people that speak up the better. Other groups will be mobilizing their supporters too, so it is critical that we do the same. Please pass this message on to as many families as you can, so that they can go onto the website and hopefully encourage their friends and relatives to do the same.

Contact a Family will be raising the following issues:

• The importance of investing in services to support disabled children and their parents
• The importance of easing the financial pressures on families by making the right benefits available and also taking steps to help parents take up jobs if appropriate (affordable childcare, flexible working etc)
• The importance of investing in parent participation so that families can drive the development of services locally
• Please click onto the link http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk/ and have your say.  The amount of time we have to influence is very limited. Please help us to make the most of that time.

For more information contact:
Srabani Sen
Chief Executive
Contact a Family
Tel: 020 7608 8704
209-211 City Road, London EC1V 1JN
www.cafamily.org.uk