Our Latest Newsletter
As friends and supporters of Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (ASPH), we wanted to update you about some of the initiatives that have been funded by the Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals Charitable Fund, and the many ways you can support us.
In this edition we will be looking a little further into some areas of interest across ASPH and what our teams have been able to achieve using charitable donations over the last few months.
Healing Arts
Our Healing Arts Programme
In 2017, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing published a report titled Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing, which gave evidence of the positive impact creative and cultural activities can have on health and wellbeing.
The report recommended the need for NHS Trusts to pursue a policy for arts, health and wellbeing and to have a non-executive champion the policy. The programme at Ashford and St Peter’s will be headed by Marcine Waterman, non-executive lead for the Healing Arts Programme and Deputy Chair at the Trust ... read more
Recent Events
Noah Performs at St Peter's
Noah recently performed for staff, patients and visitors on the piano situated in the main entrance of St Peter’s Hospital. His performance has been described by our staff and patients as truly amazing ... read more
Happy Birthday NHS!
Our beloved NHS is celebrating 75 years on 5 July 2023 and we would like to invite you to join us on the celebrations by fundraising for our children’s unit ... read more
The Duchess of Gloucester opens new staff garden at St Peter’s Hospital
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester joined staff from Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to officially open a new staff garden, The Queen Elizabeth II Staff Covid Recovery Garden, at St Peter’s Hospital today [Friday 12 May 2023] ... read more
Parents Raise Over £21,000 for Neonatal Unit at St Peter’s Hospital
In June 2019, Helen and Chris welcomed their beautiful daughter Ruby to the world, Ruby was born at full term at another hospital after a textbook pregnancy and labour. During the final stages of labour Ruby did not receive adequate oxygen and after resuscitation she was left with brain injury called Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) ... read more
Trust Celebrates the Relaunch of its Healing Arts Music Programme
A large crowd were able to watch the first performance on the Trust’s newly purchased Baby Grand Yamaha piano in the foyer at St Peter’s Hospital to mark the relaunch of the Healing Arts music programme on Wednesday 30th November 2022 ... read more
Physiotherapy Donation
The ASPH Charity recently received a donation to the Physiotherapy fund from a grateful patient who had spent a total of 250 days at St Peter’s where he was cared for in ITU and on a ward.
The road to recovery was very dependent on intensive respiratory and physical physiotherapy treatment. The Physio team used the donation to fund their team building away-day event.
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals’ Charity Launches New Fundraising Platform
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals’ Charity is proud to announce the launch of its new online donation and fundraising activities platform!
Our new platform enables you to make a one-off donation or set up your own fundraising page for personal challenges, celebrating a special occasion, or setting up a web page in memory of a loved one. There is also a section on donating to or fundraising for our equipment wish list ... read more
E-bikes Solar Powered Charging Station
In line with the Trusts initiatives to support the wellbeing of staff and also to support sustainability and green priorities, a low-cost e-Bike solar power charging station has been installed opposite the A&E department at St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey.
All members of staff can use the charging point and with it being solar powered, there won’t be any charge for its use. There is also now a new charging station at Ashford Hospital.
The charging stations were purchased by the Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals’ Charity using generous charitable donations from various benefactors and members of the public. The Trust hopes to purchase two e-bikes which will be available for staff to use and experience the ease of use of an e-bike.
The station has been designed and installed by a local company, Solarcycle Ltd. They are the first company in the UK to offer an off-grid, solar in a box solution ... read more
Eternal Garden
The Eternal Garden is a calming and private garden, which provides a dedicated space for loved ones to spend precious moments with their family or friends whilst receiving end-of-life care at St Peter’s Hospital.
The Eternal Garden can also be used by parents under our Maternity and Neonatal services whose babies have sadly died or are receiving end-of-life care, by colleagues who are having difficult conversations with patients, patients who would value being in this space with their loved ones as part of their admission, be this to come to terms with a new and challenging diagnosis, or a patient with dementia or as they move towards the end of life.
The Eternal Garden, which was opened in April 2022, is the third garden of this kind in the country and has been designed by award-winning garden and landscape designer, Rae Wilkinson. Its name signifies time without end and how things endure beyond life.
The transformation of this space was funded by the Friends of St Peter’s Hospital as their final project, after several decades of ongoing support for the hospital. The Eternal Garden is part of Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s Healing Arts programme, which is introducing more visual art, music and performance into the hospitals and improving the architecture and green spaces across the Trust.
For more information, please visit our Healing Arts pages.
Blood Bike
The expansion of surgical activity at Ashford Hospital has created the need to be able to transfer products without delay between St. Peter’s and Ashford sites.
The solution came from Andy Hyatt, Assistant Hotel Services Manager who suggested a bespoke, high speed motor bike that would be the fastest way to transfer bloods to and fro. We were delighted when an anonymous donor approached us, offering to purchase it on our behalf, at a cost of £10,999.01!
Glass Canopy
The charity has been fortunate to have received several large donations and grants from the Captain Sir Tom Moore Fund (managed by NHS Charities Together).
With the funds we received during the pandemic, we were able to increase wellbeing support for teams at the Trust as well as create new spaces for our staff to relax and unwind in, before and after shifts or during their breaks. With these funds, we built a new staff relaxation area at our St Peter’s site, with a state-of-the-art retractable canopy allowing staff to be ‘outside’ in all weather conditions.
Paediatric wards receive a bear-y special delivery!
The paediatric wards at St Peter’s Hospital have received a first delivery of 90 Mood Bears which were donated by members of the public through a fundraiser, launched by Christmas website ‘Jolly Festive’.
These bears will be given to the children and young person patients in the hospital, as well as the siblings and children of long-stay patients during the festive season ... read more
Guildford Lions Donation
Guildford Lions recently made a very generous donation to the Early Supported Discharge team at Milford Hospital.
"As a long standing member of Guildford Lions Club I was pleased to arrange a donation of £425 to the ESD Team having received help from them. I had a stroke in the summer of 2019 and initially my speech, comprehension and cognitive skills were impacted. However, after several visits from various members of the Team I was able to make progress with my recovery. My thanks to them all for their help." Vic Quayle
Stroke Rehabilitation Wheelchair
A very special wheelchair was presented to the Stroke Rehab Team at St Peter’s in November. This has been entirely funded by the Rotary Club of Chertsey.
This chair is ideal for stroke and neuro patients as it can be adjusted to support each patient’s needs and in some cases, it is the only way that a patient can leave their bed.
Mince Pie Donation
May we also thank the Rotary Club of Chertsey for donating 400 mince pies for staff and visitors to the hospital while we sang carols in December. We really appreciate your support.
Little Oaks Canopy
Earlier this year we became aware that some of our children having chemotherapy were not allowed to play outside the unit due to contact with UV rays.
Thanks to the Momentum Charity and West Byfleet golf club, we now have a state of the art electronic canopy that filters out the UV rays from several angles. The generous donors have also provided two sets of companion seats for parents to watch their children playing. The icing on the cake for this project is the amazing donation from the New Haw & Woodham Women’s Institute’s Tea Party in September. They raised £580 to provide sustainable play stations for the children to use under the canopy. Thank you ladies!
Children’s Presents
APHA - The Animal and Plant Health Agency supported us with a christmas initiative involving staff taking a tag from the tree and donating the gift written on the tag to the children’s wards - a great idea APHA. Thank you for your generosity.
Local charity’s hospital refurbishments inspire family to fund an animal-themed isolation room
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) team at St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey, were out in force on Friday 15 November, raising awareness of World Prematurity Day, and fundraising for the dedicated NICU Charity, Little Roo ... read more
A grateful Grandfather raises funds for our Neonatal Unit
On Friday 8 November, 2019 Mr. Richard Bailey and his granddaughter Lois Brown presented our NICU team with a cheque for £3,100 for Little Roo Neonatal Charity Fund ...read more
Local charity’s hospital refurbishments inspire family to fund an animal-themed isolation room
Momentum Children’s Charity has successfully completed another children’s ward refurbishment at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals.
The colourful artwork can be seen in two newly decorated isolation rooms on Ash Ward. Featuring jungle animals in one room and woodland creatures in the other room, this wonderful wall-art will help reduce stress and provide distractions for the many children who spend time in hospital ... read more
The Mayor of Runnymede donates to our Audiology department
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals were delighted to be visited by The Mayor of Runnymede, Cllr Dolsie Clarke and Consort, Dr Brian Perry last week who presented a cheque for £1,000 to Chief Executive of Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals, Suzanne Rankin ... read more
Launch of new NICU transport incubator system
The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at St Peter’s Hospital is delighted to announce the arrival of its new transport incubator system for use by the Surrey Neonatal Transfer Service.
The fully equipped mobile intensive care unit for babies was launched at the Level 3 unit in March and has already made several journeys, including a trip to Swansea to bring a premature baby back home to Surrey ... read more
Creative creatures feature at St Peter's
Momentum Children’s Charity has successfully completed another hospital refurbishment at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals, thanks to an inspiring young man called Tudor. Tudor and his colleagues raised funds for the charity’s project and the whole Mediatonic team were involved in the creative designs ... read more
Transport Snack Packs
Sometimes babies are born prematurely or unwell in hospitals that do not have facilities to provide the appropriate level of care. In these cases it may be necessary to transport them from one hospital to a specialist unit in another – such as the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at St Peter’s Hospital (the only one in Surrey). To enable babies to be transported as safely as possible, a dedicated neonatal transport service has been developed ... read more
Thameside Quilters generous donations to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Shirley McBreen and her team, the Thameside Quilter, have been crafting quilts for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at ASPH since 1998 and recently provided four quilts, beautifully made by Jacquie Cranfield, for a set of quads who were born here on Wednesday 11 July 2018, three girls and one boy. The first quads born at St Peter’s for twenty five years! ... read more
Magna Carta School
Pupils from Magna Carta School raised just under £2,000 towards the Children’s Surveillance System Appeal. The five top fundraisers were rewarded with a tour of st. peter’s hospital where they buried a letter to children of the future in a time capsule to marke the 70th anniversary of the NHS. they met the Deputy Mayor of Runnymede and tried out some medical kit in Ash Ward (the Children’s Unit).
Parents Charity Ball raises £10,000 for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Sharon-Peirson Hagger and her husband, Russell along with daughter Mia (aged 10) and son Leo, (aged 13) presented a cheque on 15 August to Dr Tracy Lawson and Dr Peter Martin for £10,000 for Little Roo Neo-natal Fund on behalf of Mia who was born with complications at Ashford and St Peter’s Neo-natal unit ten years ago ... read more
Mayor opens refurbished parents accommodation on NICU
On 18 September, Cllr Dolsie Clarke, Mayor of Runnymede, opened the newly refurbished parents’ accommodation of the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey.
The refurbishment was completed by Richard Copperwheat, whose son Louise was born prematurely at Frimley Park Hospital before being transferred to St Peter’s NICU where he sadly passed away after six days of amazing care ... read more
A grateful father raises funds for our Neonatal Unit
Matthew Rickett presented a cheque for £1,572.00, donated through the Little Roo Neonatal fund, to staff at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals for the Neonatal Unit on 13th September ...
Mayor's Charity Cheque Presentation to the Little Roo Neonatal Fund
On Monday 28th May, Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were delighted to welcome Cllr Chaudhri to the Trust's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to present his Mayor's Charity cheque ... read more
TEDicated Cycle Ride raises amazing funds in memory of baby Teddy Wright
On Friday 18th May, Nico Wright and eight friends set off from Ashford and St Peter's Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on a 9 day cycle ride covering 1,315 kilometers to the Alps and up to the summit of Mont Ventoux - the "hardest of all the mythical Tour de France climbs" ... read more
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals and Momentum Children’s Charity set out to create a perfect play setting for children with cancer
Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals, Momentum Children’s Charity and Berkeley Homes come together to celebrate the opening of the Playroom and Sensory Room in the Paediatric Unit at St Peter’s Hospital ... read more
Mothering Sunday at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Angela Gray, an employee of Morrison’s of Woking, very kindly donated 30 gift bags to neonatal intensive care unit.
The gift bags contained pillows, key rings, cotton wool and mittens for mums on the ward over Mothering Sunday. Angela just wanted to say thanks for all the assistance she received herself from NICU for the birth of her children, including Noah who was born last Easter ... read more
Premature Babies are helped by ‘Octopus’
Volunteer, Sue Morris and a team of collaborators have been knitting octopuses for the neonatal unit at Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals to help premature babies.
Sue said: "We are a group of people who crochet and knit little octopuses and jellyfish to comfort babies who decided to come into the world a little earlier than expected." ... read more
