Call for volunteers to help Mildmay
Mildmay Hospital needs volunteers!
We are now admitting patients with acute HIV-related conditions, as well as both HIV and homeless COVID-19 patients that are recovering and no longer infectious, so we are urgently looking for volunteers to support our staff and patients during this critical time.
Volunteers have always been central to Mildmay, giving their time, skills and expertise freely in support of our work.
We need volunteers:
1. for one-to-one chats with our patients - befriending (while complying with social-distancing recommendations)
2. to collect essential items from pharmacies and acute hospitals
3. to support our Estate and Facilities team.
If you have the ability to travel, maintain confidentiality and have had a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check done in the last year, please contact us on: volunteer.coordinator@mildmay.org or personnel@mildmay.org.
"It is so simple to make a difference, you just have to care."
Georgia – Mildmay volunteer
Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock said, "In these extraordinary times, it’s essential that we all pull together as part of the national effort to protect the most vulnerable, reduce pressures on our NHS and care system and save lives… Your help has the potential to make a real difference to some of those most affected by this outbreak... I am immensely proud of how the whole country is coming together to help one another – we must continue to listen to and live by the latest medical and scientific advice and through this national effort we can truly make a difference." ... See MoreSee Less
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From the archive: Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy - who has had a long association with Mildmay Hospital - opens a new wing of the hospital in 1965. #SaveMildmay ... See MoreSee Less
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A message from our Chair, the Very Reverend John Richardson:
"As Chairman of the Mildmay Board since 2007, we are grateful for the public’s response to #SaveMildmay.
In our mind, where the need for this excellent Hospital is obviously clear, what do we have to do to move the Minister of State for Health with his colleagues and the funding Commissioners to release the money immediately to continue to serve the HIV community with our highly regarded clinical services?
This is a new hospital - just four years old, built on fine traditions... why close such a fine place down when the government is promising to build 40 new hospitals?
And we could save the NHS millions per year if we continue doing what we are already doing well." ... See MoreSee Less
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It was always in our plans in 2020 to address the urgent need for people who are homeless to receive the highly focused, specialist care of the sort Mildmay provides.
Yesterday, we admitted our first #COVID19 patient – a person who is homeless. #SaveMildmay ... See MoreSee Less
'A "continuous tsunami" of ill patients'...
Every hospital bed in the UK needs to be utilised during this unprecedented national emergency and Mildmay Hospital is doing everything it can to ease the burden on overstressed NHS hospitals.
Mildmay is rapidly gearing up to take on early step-down care for patients with acute HIV-related conditions. In addition, it will care for both HIV and homeless COVID-19 patients that are recovering and no longer infectious. Whilst we are still working out the details it’s clear that this will release beds in acute hospitals much more quickly.
NHS hospitals in London are seeing a ‘continuous tsunami’ of ill patients, says Chris Hopson, Chief Executive of NHS Providers. They are trying to deal with a lot more demand than they have ever had before with a lot fewer staff than before.
Hopson said that, while extra capacity was being brought in – including 4,000 beds at the ExCeL centre in London’s Docklands – hospital chief executives are concerned that it will be used up “very, very quickly”.
Mildmay’s Chief Executive, Geoff Coleman, like many other NHS CEOs has been reassured by NHS England that the funding will be made available, enabling Mildmay to play its part during the COVID-19 crisis. Because the demand for beds is so urgent, Mildmay and other organisations involved are side-stepping normal procedures and admitting patients before their funding agreements are in place, aiming to resolve the funding down the line.
Mildmay, London’s only specialist HIV hospital, made famous by Diana, Princess of Wales, is still under threat of closure due to severe cuts to its NHS funding. As a charity providing NHS services, and not an NHS Trust, when it runs out of money, it will simply have to close.
The Hospital’s #SaveMildmay campaign, which has received worldwide coverage, has over 60,000 signatories on its petition to the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, asking for Mildmay’s unique services to be commissioned directly by NHS England like other specialist services already are, securing its future beyond the current crisis.
Please sign and SHARE our petition: www.change.org/SaveMildmay ... See MoreSee Less
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