Multi-million pound donation from Dr Assem Allam will provide a centre of research excellence and replacement clinical facilities

Local businessman and philanthropist, Dr Assem Allam (pictured, at the opening of the Allam Robotics Centre, Castle Hill), has pledged to donate approximately £3m to Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to provide enhanced clinical research and clinical facilities at Hull Royal Infirmary.

Once completed the proposed scheme would see diabetes, endocrinology and metabolic bone disease services re-located from their current home in the Brocklehurst building on Anlaby Road to a modern facility adjacent to the Women and Children’s Hospital. While patients would directly benefit from a much improved environment the overall aim is to enhance and develop clinical research facilities in diabetes, endocrinology and metabolic bone disease at Hull Royal Infirmary and help in attracting high calibre research staff and research funding streams into our region.

In recent years Dr Allam and his family have contributed significant donations to the improvement of health facilities in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire. In 2014 a £1.4m donation enabled the development of robotic surgery at Castle Hill Hospital. In April this year, the Fatima Allam Birth Centre was established through a gift of £370,000 generously made by Mrs Fatima Allam, Dr Allam’s wife. Dr Allam and his family have also given significant financial support to medical research activities over recent years.  Only last month Her Majesty the Queen opened the £28m Allam Medical Building at the University of Hull, made possible thanks to a multi-million pound donation from Dr Allam.

Dr Allam said: “If we are to deliver a world class research facility we need to be able to attract a high calibre of staff and combine that recruitment with the necessary ‘state-of-the-art’ accommodation. It is my objective to facilitate the creation of a centre for clinical research excellence that will be recognised at national and international level. We are working on the designs for this building at present and that will determine the final costs for this project but I want this to be a construction with outstanding design features on the Hull Royal Infirmary site.”

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust has recognised for some time that the research and clinical facilities housed in the Brocklehurst building need to be both modernised and expanded. With NHS budgets challenged both regionally and nationally the donation from Dr Allam will make it possible to replace the existing building with a new purpose-built facility on the Hull Royal Infirmary site.

Thozhukat Sathyapalan, Professor of Endocrinology, Hull York Medical School, said:

“Diabetes is a global epidemic and over one in 20 people in the UK have diabetes with significant consequences to their health. Endocrine and metabolic disorders such as thyroid disorders, polycystic ovary syndrome and osteoporosis also have a tremendous impact on health and quality of life affecting millions of people. This state of the art, purpose built facility will enable Hull to develop a centre of clinical research excellence and care in diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism. This will build on the successful and ongoing research programmes which are taking place in the Brocklehurst building and for it to be recognised both nationally and internationally.”

Chris Long, Trust Chief Executive, said:

“This will be another significant donation from Dr Allam and his family to the Trust, building on earlier support that has helped to transform the lives of our patients and their families through investment in modern, highly technical equipment, buildings and research. We are extremely grateful to Dr Allam for his continued support and we will work closely with him to ensure his vision for improvements to clinical research and patient facilities in our region are achieved.”

Detailed planning work is now ongoing to define requirements and to design the building. It is planned that the new facility will be commissioned by June 2019.

New mums are being offered a chance to ensure their babies are part of a major piece of artwork celebrating Hull’s year as City of Culture.

Hundreds of footprints of the babies born during 2017 have been recreated in a wall mural hanging in the foyer of Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

However, mothers of babies whose footprints were not taken around the time of their birth are being invited to a special event later this month to ensure their children are included.

Midwife Melanie Lee said: “We are hearing from some mums who say that, for whatever reason, their baby’s footprint wasn’t taken.

“Even if their babies are now coming up for their first birthday, we will still take footprints of any baby born this year so they can be part of the artwork.”

Mothers of any baby born this year and missing from the artwork are being invited to the next HEY Baby Carousel event at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital on December 20 between 6pm and 8pm with their babies so staff members can take impressions of footprints.

Postcards of the footprints are on sale from the main reception of Hull Women and Children’s Hospital or from the community midwives’ office on the first floor.

For more information about the postcards, call 01482 382658.

Women expecting their babies will also receive vital information on staying well during their pregnancy, baby advice and information about giving birth at the event. They will also be able to discuss their birth plans with midwives.

Frontline doctors are appealing to the public to only use Hull Royal Infirmary’s A&E in genuine emergencies after a surge in attendances over the past two days.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is warning of major pressure on the hospitals after more than 800 patients attended the emergency department this week.

On Monday, 420 patients turned up for treatment while 404 attended Hull Royal Infirmary yesterday, far more than the normal daily average attendances of around 330.

Today, Dr Jacquelyn Smithson, medical director for the trust’s emergency department, appealed to the public to use GPs, pharmacies and urgent care centre at Bransholme and in Beverley, Bridlington and Goole to ease the intense pressure currently facing A&E.

She said: “We come to work every single day with a determination to do everything we can to help people but now, we need the public’s help.

“We are seeing far more people than we would normally expect and this is having a major impact on waiting times.

“We are trying to provide the best possible care for those most in need of our help so we are appealing to people with minor illnesses or injuries to consider other health care facilities where they will be given the help they need and not come to A&E unless they have a severe illness or injury that cannot be treated elsewhere.

“Not only will this help them by ensuring they are not sitting waiting hours and hours to be seen, it will also allow our staff in A&E to concentrate on people in genuine, life-threatening emergencies.”

More than 200 people waited more than four hours to be treated, admitted to hospital or discharged home because of the surge in attendances on Monday and Tuesday.

The pressure on the department also meant some ambulance crews were waiting around 90 minutes before patients could be handed over to emergency staff.

Dr Smithson said: “Our staff are working flat out to try and cope with the pressure we are currently under but it is having a significant impact on the service we aim to provide.

“We are sorry people are waiting too long to be seen and would like to reassure everyone we are working very hard to see and treat the hundreds of patients who are currently streaming through our doors.

“However, we would appeal to patients and public to use our ED for genuine health emergencies only.”

She was on shift when a colleague from the Department of Elderly Medicine arrived with a story which moved her to tears.

Health care assistant Sally Hilton, 39, was working on Acorn Ward in Hull Women and Children’s Hospital when a member of staff from the 8^th floor appealed to them for help.

Sally said: “She asked if there was any chance we could help them because they had a patient who was due to go home the next day but wouldn’t go home without ‘their baby’.

“We have dolls on the ward here so we gave her one for the patient and they went home quite happy but it just really choked us.”

Sally, who has worked for the trust for more than eight years and became a health care assistant on Acorn 18 months ago, had planned good deeds alongside treats such as a holiday and shopping trips to mark her 40^th birthday in June.

And she decided to add the ambition of collecting 40 dolls in 40 days to help calm and comfort patients with dementia coming to Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

“I used the power of Facebook to post a status and it just went crazy,” said Sally.

“Within two weeks, I’d collected 64 dolls and it’s now gone up to 77. It was lovely to see the generosity, not just of my friends and family, but of people I didn’t know who heard what I was doing.

“I’d people coming up to my door to give me dolls and you should have seen my living room by the time I was finished.”

Supported by ward sister Joanne O’Connor, Sally was able to hand over the dolls to the Department of Elderly Medicine to give to patients on Ward 8, 80, 9 and 90.

Joanne said: “We’re all very proud of Sally. I was on shift with her when it happened and it moved us all, thinking about the patient.

“But Sally was determined to do something about it and we’re thinking of making it an annual event.”

Debbie Hamer, business manager for the wards, said: “Some of our patients go back to their younger days and like to have a little cuddle with a doll or a teddy.

“This was just such a lovely gesture by Sally and patients are free to take them home.”

The family of a mother who touched hearts across East Yorkshire during her battle with breast cancer are helping people living in pain.

Mum-of-two Kerry Key won widespread admiration for her refusal to give up after she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Determined to continue looking after her son Lewis and daughter Georgia, Kerry threw herself into fundraising for local charities before she died in February 2013, seven years after her initial diagnosis. She was just 36.

Now, the Kerry Key Foundation, set up by her friends and family, has donated almost £2,000 to help patients with lymphoedema, a painful, chronic condition which causes swelling.

(left to right): Shirley Evans, Laura Davies, Carol Dobson, Margaret Davies and Annette Holmes

Shirley Evans, a lymphoedema specialist nurse working for Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said the donation will fund a lymphatic drainage machine which can be used by patients to ease symptoms at home.

She said: “This machine gives a lot of comfort to patients and helps them manage their symptoms.

“We have three machines which we loan out and we used to give them to patients for a month at a time. However, the demand has grown so much that we can only give it to people for two weeks at a time.

“Now, thanks to the foundation, we can afford to buy another machine which will be such a benefit to our patients.”

Lymphoedema is often linked to the removal of lymph nodes during cancer treatment and the foundation heard about the need for an additional machine from patient Carol Dobson.

Carol works alongside Laura Davies at Preston Primary, where the women are both teaching assistants. Laura was Kerry’s cousin and is a trustee of the foundation along with her mother Margaret, Kerry’s aunt.

Laura said: “Kerry was a big part of people’s lives, even those who didn’t know her. She was such a bubbly person and her determination to fight gave us courage throughout her illness.”

Margaret said: “We wanted to make sure she was never forgotten so we started the foundation to keep her memory alive.

“We like to help local charities and good causes and when Carol told us about the need for the machine, we thought we could help.

“Kerry had lymphedema so it seemed like the right thing to do.”

Shirley works in the team based at the Queen’s Centre with nurses Annette Holmes and Fiona Kent and administrator Pat Gray.

She said: “We expect to take delivery of the new machine very soon so we hope to be able to loan it out to patients before Christmas.

“We can’t thank the foundation enough for what they are doing for our patients.”

Energy bills at East Yorkshire’s two main hospitals could be slashed by £39m after plans for a major energy upgrade were approved.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust plans to build two combined heat and power (CHP) plants at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital as part of a £13.7m energy scheme.

New LED lighting would also be introduced at both hospitals, with electrical systems overhauled and upgraded to improve efficiency.

Duncan Taylor, director of estates, facilities and development, told a meeting of the trust board this month the scheme had the potential to save £39m in energy costs over 25 years.

Mr Taylor said the current energy facilities at Hull Royal had “exceeded the end of their useful life and are no longer fit for purpose.”

He said: “We have been looking at a number of ways of saving significant energy within the organisation over the last couple of years.

“Energy costs are only going to get higher and this will effectively halve our energy costs. Reducing our carbon makes a significant reduction in the target for CO2 emissions so this seems like a win-win.”

As well as complying with carbon reduction targets set for 2020 and reaping major carbon energy and financial savings, the work will also reduce backlog maintenance, currently standing at £64m.

The trust board has approved an outline business case for the major programme of works and it will now be passed to NHS Improvement for consideration.

If approved, a loan application for £13.7m will then be submitted to NHS Improvement to fund the work.

The latest panel of the Born into a City of Culture artwork project was installed at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital earlier today. The October panel, with its autumnal oranges, reds and browns, is the tenth of 12 panels to be mounted in the hospital’s entrance.

The project involves taking the footprint of every baby born in Hull in 2017 and using these images to create a unique piece of artwork depicting trees throughout the seasons. The babies’ footprints represent leaves, while midwives hand prints also feature as the ‘supporting’ tree trunks.

Every month, a new panel is installed and the October panel features 396 sets of tiny toes from babies born in either the Fatima Allam Birth Centre, the labour ward, or at home during the month. To date, there are more than 4,000 babies represented across the piece, which will be complete by January 2018.

The Born into a City of Culture project is supported by the Hull 2017 Creative Communities programme and has been made possible with the support of local design and marketing company, Jenko.

Postcards featuring images of the baby footprint panels are available for sale within the Women and Children’s Hospital or via the community midwifery office, priced £1 each. Each postcard represents two months i.e. January and February; March and April; May and June; July and August; and the latest postcard features the footprints of babies born during September and October. The whole set will be complete in 6 postcards.

Hospital appointment times have been reduced dramatically for scores of patients after health care assistants were trained to deliver vital heart checks to patients.

Around 60 patients attending appointments at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital every month had to go to the Hull Royal Infirmary’s tower block for electrocardiograms (ECGs) to check heart rhythms and electrical activity before undergoing surgery including hysterectomy.

Now, health care assistants at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Trust have been trained to perform the checks so patients, many of them elderly and with more than one health condition, receive all pre-operation assessments under one roof.

Julie Fellowes, sister for gynaecology and the breast care clinic, said the new system had reduced hospital appointment times by around 90 minutes, improving patient experience.

She said: “Historically, the ECGs have been done in the ECG department in the tower block.

“When our patients came in for pre-op assessments, we had to send them to the tower block if they required an ECG.

“We were sending approximately 15 patients a week over to the tower block, often out into the cold, and many of these patients are elderly or with other conditions. They would have to sit and wait in the department for their turn and then come all the way back here.”

The inconvenience to patients was discovered by Eileen Henderson, head of outpatient services, during a review of the main outpatient suite in the tower block.

Realising the need to improve the experience for patients, staff in the gynaecology outpatients department transformed an under-used “quiet room” in the Women and Children’s Hospital into their own ECG room.

Six Band 2 health care assistants have received specialised training, allowing them to carry out ECGs to appropriate professional standards.

The health care assistants underwent competency core training and were then shown how to carry out ECGs before being supervised in the role.

While they can carry out the tests, the results are passed to registered nurses for interpretation. Any abnormalities or concerns are then forwarded to consultants for review.

The department, on the ground floor of the Women and Children’s Hospital, currently shares an ECG machine with Cedar and Rowan wards, although staff are attempting to raise £2,000 for their own machine.

Reducing the length of appointment times will also benefit the trust’s “referral to treatment” or RTT performance target as it will enable staff to see more outpatients than before, reducing waiting times.

Sister Fellowes said staff had worked hard to find a solution in the best interests of their patients.

“They are a very proactive team,” she said. “They themselves realised it wasn’t nice for the ladies to have to go to the tower block and found a way of making this a better experience for them.”

Staff, patients and visitors are being urged to be on the look-out today for a giraffe lost somewhere in Castle Hill Hospital.

Margaret Atkin, 78, was given the toy giraffe by great grandson Jacob Rider, four, when she was admitted to the intensive care unit at the hospital in Cottingham nine weeks ago.

The soft toy, which doesn’t have a name, had a rip in its back and intensive care nurses used surgical tape to seal its ‘wound’ before Mrs Atkin was transferred to Ward 27 as her condition improved.

However, the giraffe was lost when Mrs Atkin was moved onto Ward 29 on November 22 as her recuperation continues.

Now, Jacob’s mum Kirsty is appealing to staff and anyone visiting patients at the hospital to be on the look-out for the giraffe.

She said: “Jacob asked where the giraffe was at the weekend and I told him it was still in hospital getting fixed.

”But it’s my Nanna who is most upset. She remembers having it the night before she was moved to Ward 29 but then we realised it was missing.”

The family contacted the cleaning firm responsible for the hospital’s laundry but it hasn’t been found. They have checked lost property, the general office at Castle Hill and both wards without success.

They’ve also walked between the wards in the hope of finding the giraffe but it hasn’t turned up.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is emailing all staff to alert them to be on the lookout for Jacob’s giraffe and is now asking visitors to the hospital to keep their eyes peeled.

Kirsty said: “We’re wondering if someone has handed it in to one of the children’s play areas and we just hope people can help us find it. They might have seen the cross on its back and not understand the sentimental value it has for our family.”

Anyone who spots the giraffe is urged to contact the communications department at Hull Royal Infirmary on 01482 675556.

Families have thanked Hull doctors for saving their children’s lives in a moving video to mark 40 years of paediatric surgery.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will play host to some of the UK’s leading children’s doctors today (Friday) to celebrate the 40^th anniversary.

A video of families whose children have undergone surgery since 2009, including some children as soon as they were born has been made by the trust’s medical education technical services team.

Dawn Smith, whose son Ellis was saved by the trust’s paediatric surgical team, said: “You can’t just say thank you to someone who has saved your life or changed it. It’s just not enough.”

Countless lives have been changed and transformed through the skills of our surgical teams, led by consultant paediatric surgeon Sanja Besarovic and known to families throughout East Yorkshire as Miss B.

Jamielea Marshall, whose son Sunny Miller had surgery when he was 12 hours old after he was born in November 2015, said: “I was scared because I didn’t find out until late on in my pregnancy that there was anything wrong.

“Miss B restored my faith in this system. She had made me think they do an amazing job.”

Surgeons from Great Ormond Street Hospital, King’s College Hospital, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield Children’s Hospitals will present on topics including paediatric obesity in childhood, diagnosing problems in pregnancy and congenital conditions at the full-day conference in the trust’s medical lecture theatre on Friday.

NHS staff who underwent paediatric surgery as children, retired surgeons, an anaesthetist and families of child patients will also share their experiences of Hull.

Ms Besarovic  said: “We are holding this event to mark 40 years of paediatric surgery in Hull and 2017, with Hull’s year as City of Culture, seemed like a good occasion to celebrate what we have achieved.

“We have speakers who are well-known nationally and internationally who are coming to the city and most of them have spent time in Hull, either as senior house officers, locum consultants or consultants.

“It is great that they have accepted our invitation to return to the city to talk about their work.”

The Royal College of Surgeons has accredited the event with six “continuing professional development” points for doctors attending in recognition of the level of expertise present.

Colin Vize, medical director for family and women’s health at the trust, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the outstanding work our staff have achieved since we began to offer families paediatric surgery in 1977.

“So many lives have been changed in those 40 years thanks to the skill and dedication of our staff and this prestigious event, attracting some of the most important experts in the field, shines a spotlight on the essential work of this department.”