Our Impact

We make a difference for patients, meaning everything we do has the patient in mind. Every penny raised is dedicated to improving the patient experience across our hospitals and services.

Hospitals and NHS colleagues are at the heart of our communities, and they are delivering a wide range of life-saving services to a variety of patients. While the NHS is able to run hospitals and safely deliver services, there is a limit to what the NHS itself is able to fund. Many NHS buildings need to be modernised, and the most modern equipment is not always available. Some buildings have changed use many times, and therefore alterations need to be made to make them more suitable for their new purpose.

Sometimes, it’s the small things that make all the difference, but extra funding is often needed to put good ideas into practice and to develop new services. We fund what the NHS is unable to fund. This ensures that Somerset’s hospitals are exceptional places to be treated, with state-of-the art equipment in the best possible environments. The more donations we receive, the more equipment we can buy and the more improvements we can make. The new facilities, services and equipment that we fund allow NHS colleagues to do more. This is how we are making a difference for patients.

Thanks to you…

Thanks to your generous and wonderful donations, Somerset NHS Charity has been able to fund state-of-the-art equipment, additional services, facilities update, and many more, making a difference for patients every day.

This is just a small selection from the impact your donations have made:

Improvements to a hydrotherapy pool
Equipment to help with discharge
Paid for stroke rehabilitation equipment
Purchased a range of equipment for community hospitals around the county
Provided books for teenagers dealing with anxiety
Funded Music therapy on the wards to improve mental and physical wellbeing
Funded a portable bladder scanner for our community nursing team
Funded a pool car, which has allowed chemotherapy clinics to be extended to the wider community, particularly the Bridgwater and Williton Community Hospitals, bringing treatment closer to patient homes.
Funded a brand-new bariatric chair for From Community Hospital This chair will ensure bariatric patients are moved with the utmost dignity and comfort.

Supporting our Local NHS Mental Health Services

Our fundraising team have recently been on a tour around various sites to contact the mental health sites in our county. We have funded several small objects in these sites to try and both build a relationship and to help our new charity grow. All items that we have funded will directly benefits our patients in the community.

Willow Ward

We purchased a DVD player for the patients at Willow Ward in Bridgwater. The ward do a movie night every Friday, so we were happy to fund this vital bit of equipment.

CAMHS West (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) in Taunton

We also purchased a coffee machine for the CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services) team in Taunton. The parents of patients are often sat in the waiting room for an hour or more, without access to a hot drink. We funded the machine in the hope the parents/ guardians enjoy their time a little bit more.

CAMHS East in Yeovil

We purchased two copies of Helping Autistic Teens to Manage their Anxiety: Strategies and Worksheets using CBT, DBT and ACT skills for the CAMHS team at Balidon centre. These text books will aid CAMHS East to continue to support the accessibility and effectiveness of mental health interventions for autistic individuals.

Magnolia Day Centre and Rowan Ward

We purchased two Google nest hubs; one for Magnolia Day Centre who run a therapeutic and education group which is primarily for older persons with dementia but also for older adults with mild to moderate depression and anxiety; and one for Rowan ward who provide assessment and treatment primarily for adults of working age who are experiencing an acute mental health problem.