Residents' Association Forum

General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Admin on January 24, 2014, 11:47:55 AM

Title: Press Releases / News items
Post by: Admin on January 24, 2014, 11:47:55 AM

“BUTTONS” PANTOMIME RAISES £4,000 FOR HOSPITAL APPEAL

Supporters of the campaign to develop the Thames Ditton Community Hospital at Emberbrook raised over £4,000 on Saturday 11th January at a fund raising dinner in the Vera Fletcher Hall.

The event was organised by the Friends of Thames Ditton Hospital and sponsored by Dairy Crest. 100 guests enjoyed splendid French cuisine and the after-dinner pantomime “Buttons” presented by Charles Court Opera.

Councillor Karen Randolph, Chairman of the Friends of Thames Ditton Hospital, thanked Councillor Ruth Lyon for organising the evening and guests and local businesses for their generosity and support for improving the range and depth of health services provided at Emberbrook.

Following the success of previous years' fund-raising, the Friends last year purchased echocardiogram equipment costing £40,000. This complements the existing consultant cardiologist clinics held at the Emberbrook Community Centre for Health and enables heart patients in the Esher/ Thames Ditton area to be diagnosed and treated more quickly and at a lower cost to the NHS than was the case previously.

This year fund are being raised to purchase more medical equipment at Thames Ditton so that patients can get an extensive out-patients consultant service without needing to go to an acute hospital such as Kingston, St Georges or Epsom.

Councillor Randolph said the Friends continue to work both for more out-patient services and for the provision of NHS intermediate care beds for local people in Thames Ditton and the surrounding area requiring short term care. Several years ago NHS Surrey's financial problems resulted in the loss of more than 30% of Surrey's community hospital beds; close to home this has meant that Molesey Hospital, with a capacity for 30 beds, has only 12 beds open in spite of an extensive waiting list of patients in Kingston and other hospitals. There is clearly a need for more community hospital beds to take the pressure off beds at acute hospitals. Now that commissioning of inpatient community hospital beds is the responsibility of our local CCG (Surrey Downs Clinical Commissioning Group) rather than the PCT, there is some indication that the tide is turning but as we all know finances in the NHS are extremely tight. The Friends are working with local GPs to extend the services provided for patients at Emberbrook.