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Fife Health Charity Newsletter Winter 2023/24 (PDF, low resolution, 288 KB)
Fife Health Charity Newsletter Winter 2023/24 (PDF, high quality, 6.12 MB)
In this issue:
- More wellbeing hubs: helping hard-working staff to take a break
- Sir Tom’s legacy lives on across the region
- Revamping outdoor rest spaces
- Making a difference across Fife
- Grant support is music to the ears of patients at Stratheden Hospital
- The only way is Up
- Charity supports trial to help new-born babies in Fife
- Getting to the art of the matter
- Thanks to everyone who has supported Fife Health Charity in 2023
- How to make a donation
More wellbeing hubs: helping hard-working staff to take a break
Health centres across Fife are being spruced up – with the support of the Fife Health Charity.
A total of 22 bases in the Kingdom are getting new staff wellbeing facilities, at a cost of £243,000 (see full list at the end of this article.)
The investment follows similar work to provide hubs for hard-working NHS staff across 10 hospital sites in Fife, at a cost of £480,000. At the time of writing (December 2023), seven out of ten of the hospital hubs have been delivered, with the final three due for completion before March 2024.
Fife Health Charity Director Mark McGeachie said: “The hubs are being designed and developed in consultation with staff. They provide calm environments for people to have a break away from busy clinical environments. The spaces feature modern kitchen facilities and comfortable seating and eating areas.”
The latest staff hub was opened in November 2023 at Whyteman’s Brae Hospital in Kirkcaldy by Charity Trustee Colin Grieve (pictured second from left above with staff).
Mark said: “Early feedback from staff on site is they are really pleased with new facility and the space is being well used.”
During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, a network of temporary staff hubs was established in hospitals across NHS Fife.
These aimed to provide somewhere for staff to relax, have refreshments and take breaks away from clinical areas.
Building on the benefits gained from the temporary hubs, it was agreed to develop permanent well-being areas for staff in all 10 hospitals, followed by a roll-out to community health facilities.
Funding for the ambitious project includes a significant donation from an anonymous benefactor to support NHS Fife staff and grant funding from NHS Charities Together, which was brought to national prominence by the incredible fundraising efforts of the late Captain Sir Tom Moore.
A painting of Captain Sir Tom Moore adorns the wall of the new Staff Wellbeing Hub at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline.
Gifted to Fife Health Charity by local artist Jon Brown, the work depicts Captain Sir Tom Moore across various stages of his life.
* The health centres benefitting from the grant aid are in: Anstruther (Skeith HC), Ladybank, Glenrothes (Glenwood), Pitteuchar, Leslie (Clinic), Burntisland, Kinghorn, Kennoway, Leven, Airlie (Medical Practice), Kirkcaldy, Cardenden, Kincardine, Oakley, High Valleyfield, Rosyth, Dalgety Bay, Kelty, Cowdenbeath, Lochore (Rosewell), Dunfermline (Linburn Road), Lochgelly.
Sir Tom’s legacy lives on across the region
Fife Health Charity has awarded an extra year of funding to help 10 projects across Fife.
The Charity is using money distributed by NHS Charities Together – the umbrella group sharing monies raised by Captain Sir Tom Moore and others during the COVID pandemic.
An additional £67,000 is being split between 10 projects locally.
The aim of the projects is to take pressure off the healthcare system and support communities after the COVID pandemic, tackling issues like social isolation and building community participation.
The projects getting additional funding are based at:
• Collydean Community Centre, Glenrothes (community champions support)
• Kirkcaldy YMCA (mental health drop-in groups)
• Fife Alcohol Support Service, Kirkcaldy (supporting patients with addictions leaving hospital)
• St Margaret’s Church, Glenrothes (delivering community groups)
• PAMIS in Kirkcaldy (supporting people with profound and multiple learning disabilities)
• Fife International Forum (supporting people from migrant communities to access healthcare support)
• Clear Buckhaven (community engagement activities)
• Linton Lane Community Centre, Kirkcaldy (mental health support groups)
• Gallatown Hub, Kirkcaldy (supporting volunteers)
• Morrison Duncan Hall Committee, Gauldry (new equipment to continue delivering community food activities)
Fife Health Charity Director Mark McGeachie said: “This extension helps each grant-funded organisation to maintain their projects for a further year at a time where community-based charities are struggling to secure funding.”
Revamping outdoor rest spaces
Outdoor spaces are getting a revamp thanks to Fife Health Charity.
Nearly £120,000 was allocated recently to renovate gardens at the Muirview and Cairnie Wards at Strathenden Hospital by Cupar. A further £41,500 was awarded to improve the courtyard next to admissions unit 2 (AU2) at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy. This will provide a welcome outdoor rest space for staff.
Our picture shows the revamped courtyard for staff to have well-earned breaks at Glenrothes Hospital, next to the staff wellbeing hub. The charity provided £21,000 to deliver this outdoor project.
Making a difference across Fife
Across the region, Fife Health Charity is making a difference - investing public donations into NHS hospitals and facilities.
Recent grants have included:
- £61,542 for three “cuddle” beds - to allow people to be close to loved ones at Victoria Hospice in Kirkcaldy
- an additional £28,000 to deliver the new bereavement suite for families experiencing late stage pregnancy loss at Victoria Hospital’s Maternity Unit, taking the total charity grant for this development to £40,000
- £30,000 to deliver welcoming family rooms in ward one and four at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline
- £26,460 for an “airway trainer”, to support staff training in anaesthetics
- £20,160 to deliver more comfortable recliner chairs for haematology patients in Ward 34 in the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
- £15,000 to improve the day room in Tarvit Ward at the Adamson Hospital in Cupar.
A further £13,905 was recently allocated to deliver hi-tech “RITA” equipment - this stands for “Reminiscence Interactive Therapy Activities”. This will help calm anxious patients, with dementia, who have to attend the Admission Unit 1 and the Emergency Department at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
Grant support is music to the ears of patients at Stratheden Hospital
An NHS facility – helping Fife residents with severe and enduring mental illnesses – has been given a boost.
The Dunino Ward at Stratheden Hospital by Cupar has taken delivery of new equipment, aimed at improving patients’ mental health and helping them enhance their life skills.
The facilities have been funded by grants for more than £16,500 from Fife Health Charity.
A new gym has been set up on the ground floor, complete with treadmill, exercise bike, punchbag and boxing mitts.
Upstairs, rooms have been transformed into:
• a music area with guitars, keyboards, drum kit and percussion instruments
• an IT area for patients, with laptops
• a relaxation area, with eye pillows, massage equipment, blankets and soft furnishings
The charity funding has also allowed the ward to buy cooking appliances and equipment to help patients make healthy meals.
The ward’s Occupational Therapist, Susan Love, said: “This has made a massive difference to all the patients that we work with. The patients are so pleased with all the equipment we’ve been able to get for the ward. When the new musical instruments arrived, the patients got involved in opening the boxes. It was like Christmas Day come early.”
Senior Charge Nurse Nicky McLean said: “Dunino Ward is the only in-patient rehabilitation service in Fife, for adults aged 18 to 65, with severe and enduring mental health issues.
“The impact of getting all the equipment from the charity grants has been immense.
“We’re able to run a number of groups which the patients wouldn’t normally have had easy access to.
“For instance, our cooking equipment is being used to help patients make nutritious food, which has an impact on their wellbeing. It will also help them gain skills they can use when they are discharged from the ward.
“Our new gym is available throughout the day and weekends. It’s well-known that physical activity helps mental health and wellbeing.
“Meanwhile, the musical equipment gives patients a creative outlet. This can lift spirits and distract patients from some of the problems they’re experiencing.
“The relaxation space and IT areas are also great additions. Some of patients can feel quite overwhelmed and agitated by their conditions and this can help them.”
Dunino Ward offers specialist care and treatment to patients during an “acute phase” of their mental illnesses. The ward also provides support and encouragement to help patients achieve longer-term goals in their recovery.
Nicky said: “Our aim is to deliver recovery-focused, person-centred and strength-based care, through a ward programme supported by a multi-disciplinary team.” She added: “We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who supports Fife Health Charity.
“Your donations helped deliver the grant aid which bought our new equipment. The impact this is having on people’s lives is incredible.”
Pictured above: Occupational Therapist Susan Love with some of the equipment bought with the grant. Inset: Senior Charge Nurse Nicky McLean.
The only way is Up
It could be a scene from the Disney movie “Up”: a cartoon character floats into the sky, helped by a bunch of coloured balloons.
The scene fills up a series of skylights which have been installed in the accident and Emergency Department at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. The aim is to distract and calm young patients in the “resus” area. Funding for the new LED-powered skylights has been provided by the Fife Health Charity.
The charity has also provided money for new colourful and comfortable seating in the emergency department. Staff hope this will be particularly welcomed by elderly patients and those with sensory impairment or dementia.
Charity supports trial to help new-born babies in Fife
A project which could speed up the early detection of hip problems in new-born babies is being trialled in Fife.
NHS Fife staff are working with a team from the University of Alberta in Canada on the initiative.
They will be testing the use of a hand-held scanner, which harnesses the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to support the diagnosis of developmental dysplasia of the hip. This is a condition where the hip (ball and socket) joint fails to develop normally.
One in ten babies are born with hip instability, one in 100 babies are treated for hip dysplasia and one in 500 are born with a dislocated hip.
Early diagnosis and treatment can avoid costly surgery or problems in later life.
Currently in Scotland, only higher-risk infants are sent for special ultrasound scans to detect hip dysplasia. These scanners need to be used by experienced staff and are expensive to deliver.
The Canadian, AI-powered solution, is significantly cheaper and can be used by clinical staff without years of specialist training. Trials using the new equipment are due to start in Fife in the spring of 2024.
Fife Health Charity has given £33,570 to employ a part-time data manager to help support the trial using the new equipment.
If the trial is successful, it could offer an opportunity for “universal” ultrasound scanning for all new-born babies in Fife. This potentially could lead to adoption across the NHS in Scotland and the UK.
Joyce Henderson, a Lead Advanced Practice Physiotherapist in NHS Fife, is leading on the trial. She said the Canadian tool delivers results in less than one minute. Its use, she said, could transform clinical services, reduce backlogs, waiting lists and costs and most importantly support better clinical outcomes for babies.
“We know that hip dysplasia, if it’s found late, has a risk of poorer outcomes and potentially could lead to early onset arthritis and hip-joint replacements.”
She said she was pleased the Fife Health Charity was able to support the trial.
“The tool we’re using has FDA approval in the United States but is not yet validated within the UK. This is a preliminary trial to see if it would work within our NHS system. It has very good results so far in Canada but it hasn’t been trialled in the UK or Europe yet.
“Our trial will look to assess new-born babies before they leave hospital and later at six to eight weeks old. This is all about improving the quality of the examinations we can offer new babies and reduce the requirement to make additional trips into acute hospitals for assessment.”
Getting to the art of the matter
A new community art gallery has been set up at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline.
The exhibition space is located in the corridor connecting phases one and two of the hospital - and features works by local photographers.
Fife Health Charity provided funding for the new display area.
Charity Director Mark McGeachie said: “Art can be hugely beneficial in healthcare settings - improving the physical environment for patients, in turn reducing stress and anxiety and providing a source of inspiration in difficult times.”
The charity is working with local art groups to display their work in the gallery.
The first exhibition features work by the Dunfermline Photographic Association, which has mounted a selection of images from across Fife, taken by Association members.
Opening the gallery, Nicky Connor, Director of Fife Health and Social Care Partnership, said: “This gallery is an example of how we can use our buildings and spaces to help us connect with the people and communities we serve.
“The feedback we have received about the new gallery, and indeed the first exhibition, has been really positive.”
Pictured above: Fife Health Charity Director Mark McGeachie with Gillian Parsons, volunteer Art Convener, at the opening of the new Community Art Gallery.
Below: Some of the people who attended the Gallery opening.
Thanks to everyone who has supported Fife Health Charity in 2023
As we near the end of 2023, I wanted to take a few moments to thank people across the Kingdom for supporting Fife Health Charity.
In case you haven’t heard of us, we distribute money given to NHS hospitals and services across Fife – making sure generous donations are spent wisely.
Charity donations don’t substitute government funding for the NHS but are used to provide grants to support enhanced patient care, staff development and well-being. You can find examples of some of our funded projects on our website:
www.nhsfife.org/fifehealthcharity
You can also email: fife.healthcharity@nhs.scot
The charity was founded more than 70 years ago and was previously known as the Fife Health Board Endowment Fund. Through our grants we aim to add value and enhance what is provided by NHS Fife. We want to benefit people across Fife and the NHS staff who support them, wherever we can.
With public support – and the help of hard-working NHS staff – we can achieve great things.
Thanks again to our supporters and best wishes to everyone for a happy and healthy 2024.
Best wishes,
Mark McGeachie,
Charity Director,
Fife Health Charity
How to make a donation
Fife Health Charity manages over 360 different funds for specific wards, departments and locations throughout Fife and general funds for wider use. We can accept donations from individuals, clubs and societies, work groups, companies, or any other organisation.
How do I donate?
- Online – www.justgiving.com/faht
- By cheque – please make cheques payable to Fife Health Charity and send them to Fife Health Charity, Level 3, Hayfield House, Kirkcaldy, KY2 5AH
- By cash – pass your donation to reception / cashiers at the main hospital sites. Each donation will be formally recorded and the donor will receive a copy of the official Charitable Donation Form.
How will my donation be used?
If you do not specify the purpose of your donation, it will be added to the general fund for the benefit of all NHS Fife patients, carers and staff.
See our website for full details: www.nhsfife.org/fifehealthcharity
Fife Health Charity is a registered charity. Scottish Charity No. SC011988
www.nhsfife.org/fifehealthcharity
Email us: fife.healthcharity@nhs.scot
Donate: www.justgiving.com/faht
