HOSPITALS in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole have received more than a quarter of a million pounds worth of donations in response to their emergency appeal to help support frontline NHS staff during the coronavirus pandemic.

Generous individuals and businesses have donated £259,701 to The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals and Poole Hospital’s NHS Heroes campaign since Covid-19 began.

The money has been spent on items to help with staff wellbeing, including counsellors to provide mental health support, wash kits for staff treating Covid patients to take showers after a long shift in PPE, and fridges to help staff keep food cool during a busy day at work.

Lindsey Sturman, Bournemouth Hospital Charity Fundraising Manager, said: “We are incredibly grateful to our local community for coming together to support our NHS Heroes at this time.

“We’ve been overwhelmed with the generous support from our community – it’s been tremendous.

"We are so grateful for every donation we have received and have been blown away by the creative ways you have fundraised for us or set yourself a challenge.

“Your donations are helping to support our incredible frontline staff with whatever they need, from refreshments and improvements to wellbeing areas, to books promoting positive mental health and whiteboards to communicate with patients.”

Funds have also been spent on items to enable staff to deliver patient care, printers so staff can share messages from patients’ loved ones, and iPads to help staff and patient talk to relatives.

The trusts are no longer asking for physical donations, such as toiletries and food, as they move to focus resource on the daily running of the hospital.

But the Joint Chairman David Moss said staff, from porters to consultants, physiotherapists to catering teams, had been extremely grateful to receive hundreds of generous gifts, which have included thousands of Easter Eggs, cereal bars and wash kits.

He added: “We’ve been overwhelmed with the generous support from our community – it’s been tremendous.

“Thank you for all your kind donations. It’s really helping us look after the wellbeing of our valued staff, which is in turn helping us deliver quality patient care back to you – our fantastic community.

“But if there’s one gift we’d really like you to give us it’s to stay at home as much as possible, and limit contact with other people.

“If you do go out, please respect social distancing guidelines, follow the two metre rule, and don't take risks.”

To help support your NHS Heroes and donate to the appeal, visit BHCharity.org/donate.