The League of Friends of the Beverley Westwood Hospital, which has supported patients at the hospital since 1967, is disbanding.
Chairwoman Mrs Margaret Peel said that since the new East Riding Community Hospital was opened members of the League of Friends felt that they had done their duty and it was time to hang up their collecting buckets.
‘However, we do have some funds that we’d like to donate to services at the new hospital,’ said Mrs Peel, ‘and we’d like the public to know how the money they gave so generously is going to be spent.’
Mrs Peel and the League of Friends met managers from Humber NHS Foundation Trust, who run the new hospital, to present cheques totalling £1,700. £500 was given to local community services and £200 to voluntary services manager Carole White to use for recreational activities within the hospital. Service manager Ian Tweddell received £500 for Hawthorne Court mental health inpatient unit and £500 was given to the Janet Johnson Trust to help users of mental health services to access education; this fund is managed by Humber’s patient experience team.
Dave Snowdon, chief executive of Humber NHS Foundation Trust, said, ‘We are extremely grateful to the League of Friends, not only for their generous donations today but for the decades of dedicated service they have given to patients of Westwood Hospital. They deserve the wholehearted thanks of the local community and the health service and we are very sorry that their invaluable work has had to come to an end.’
If you would like to find out more about mental health, learning disability, community or addictions services in your area, you can become a member of Humber NHS Foundation Trust. Go to www.humber.nhs.uk, email members@humber.nhs.uk or call freephone 0800 915 5064 to find out more.