Parents are to be warned of the dangers facing young children from everyday items including dishwasher tablets and hair straighteners at the next Hey Baby Carousel.

Midwives and child birth educators at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital are working with Hull City Council’s Accident Prevention Team to outline the risks household objects pose to children.

More than 16,000 under-fives were taken to Hull Royal’s Emergency Department following an accident in 2017/18, an increase on 11,095 the previous year.

Childbirth educator Melanie Lee said: “Before your baby arrives, you have to look at your home with fresh eyes to see potential dangers.

“Going around your home on your hands and knees can give you a different perspective and help you see things which are in a child’s eye line.

“However, we want to show people how washing dishes or clothes, having a hot cup of coffee or straightening your hair can cause severe injuries and even death to their child.”

Hey Baby Carousel takes place on the last Wednesday of every month and is now held at the Clinical Skills Building in Fountain Street, near Hull Royal Infirmary.

Pregnant women, partners and grandparents are all welcome to attend the next event on Wednesday, February 27, between 6pm and 8pm.

You can speak to midwives about your options for giving birth, speak to staff at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre and use the award-winning Virtual Reality headsets to immerse yourself in a range of experiences from using the pool in the birth centre to using a birthing ball on the labour ward.

Along with the accident prevention stall, midwives, birth educators and childcare experts will be on hand to offer advice, tips and guidance to parents for every stage of their pregnancy and parenthood.

There will also be practical demonstrations of how to change a nappy, how to bathe your infant in those early weeks and how to fit a car seat correctly.

There’s no need to make an appointment – just turn up.

Children undergoing surgery in Hull are to be ‘driven’ to the operating theatres in a Tesla electric car.

The miniature version of the electric car has been donated to Acorn Ward at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital and will be used to transport children to theatre as well as for scans.

The Tesla Owners Club UK and the Christian Blandford Fund, a charity helping children facing long stays in NHS hospitals, are donating the car to make the experience of undergoing surgery less daunting to younger patients.

Joanne O’Conner, sister of Acorn Ward, said: “We do our best to make the experience of surgery or going for scans less intimidating and frightening for children.

“Our new car will make it far more exciting when the children discover they will be able to drive themselves to the theatre.

“It’s a fantastic gesture from the Tesla owners and the Christian Blandford Fund which will make a huge difference to the children we care for at the hospital.”

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who bought Tesla Motors in 2003 to bring electric vehicles to the mass market and is now working on space travel, has supported the donation, helped by the WISHH Charity supporting Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.

The Tesla Model S for Kids car in midnight silver has a full sound system and room for a teddy bear in the boot. Suitable for children aged three to eight, the car is powered by an electric battery with the patient able to sit behind the wheel.

Tesla car owners Julian Hakes, Josh Cunningham and Karl Smith came to the hospital to hand over the car and treat staff, visitors and patients to displays of their own cars, including one’s “dancing” features.

Tesla car owners Karl Smith (left)Josh Cunningham (second from left) and Julian Hakes (right) with Acorn Ward Sister Joanne O’Connor

Deryn Harvey, Mini Tesla Coordinator  at the Tesla Owners Group UK, said:“ The car is sure to bring joy and alleviate anxiety in young children in hospital.

“This mini-Tesla is one of 500 we have placed across the country thanks to our members’ donations.

“Hull Women and Children’s Hospital is especially deserving as it was nominated by one of our local members in gratitude for the great service provided to his children.”

David Haire, Project Director Fundraising at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Both the trust and the WISHH Charity welcome this thoughtful donation which will, I am sure, help children to relax in the period before they have to receive their treatment.”

Virtual reality headsets giving Hull parents-to-be an immersive experience of labour and birth have helped hospital staff win a national award in midwifery.

Hull Women and Children’s Hospital became the first in the world to offer VR headsets to around 400 prospective parents so they can see what it’s like to use a birthing pool in the midwifery-led unit or a birthing ball in the labour ward.

As well as using the headsets to tour the Fatima Allam Birth Centre, women who know they’re having a caesarean section are offered the opportunity to see inside an operating theatre before coming into hospital.

Now, midwives and Hull Institute of Learning and Simulation (HILS) have won “Use of Technology” at a British Journal of Midwifery ceremony in Leeds.

Head of Midwifery Janet Cairns said: “Our use of technology is allowing women to become familiar with their surroundings, know who could be there with them when they go into labour and what they might expect during labour and birth.

“Our midwifery team worked with HILS on the project and this award is fantastic recognition of what can be achieved through innovative thinking, dedication and teamwork.”

The midwifery team worked with HILS, based in the Clinical Skills building at Hull Royal Infirmary, to record 360-degree footage for the VR headsets.

Prospective parents have been road-testing the headsets at the HEY Baby Carousel events, with the next one taking place on Wednesday, February 27, between 6pm and 8pm.

Janet Cairns said: “Wearing the headsets is like being in the room. People are able to see all around them and watch midwives interacting with mothers and partners during labour.

“We’ve got a video tour of the hospital so people can familiarise themselves with their surroundings before they come in but the headsets take it to a different level.

“We’re giving prospective parents as much information in as many different formats as we can so they can make choices that are right for them and their babies.”

HILS Senior Technician Chris Gay said: “The feedback we’ve had from parents so far has been really positive, with more than 90 per cent reporting the experience helped them feel better prepared for their birth of their babies.

“We’re now looking at how we can expand the project to shape the services we provide in the future.”

A woman who suffered four miscarriages in a single year has created special bracelets to help Hull’s Early Pregnancy Unit.

Hull dance school owner Samantha Catanach, 32, was found to have “killer cells” in her womb which caused her to have recurrent miscarriages.

Now, after treatment to suppress her immune system, Samantha and husband Martin, 34, are proud parents of baby son Ted, born on November 1.

And Samantha has raised £1,500 for the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit’s Forget-Me-Not Fund which gives special memory boxes for women suffering miscarriage, ectopic or molar pregnancies.

Baby Ted

She said: “I became a familiar face because I was there so often and I can’t speak highly enough about the staff and the care I received.

“But I wanted to do something to help other women who have early losses because, no matter how caring the staff were, I felt like I was leaving empty-handed and that I had nothing.”

Samantha, who runs Flex Dance Inc with her best friend Stephanie Keeting and holds classes in Hull and Leeds, lost her first baby in early March 2017 and went on to suffer three further miscarriages, all around the seventh  week of pregnancy.

She started writing a blog Crazy Fertility Queen, reaching out to other women who had been or were going through similar experiences.

“Once felt like bad luck,” she said. “When you’ve had three,  it’s classed as recurrent miscarriage. It was so difficult for us that it kept happening. We never got passed the first scan.

“But the staff in the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit were just so supportive and were really amazing.”

After their fourth miscarriage, Samantha and Martin paid for private tests and discovered Samantha had killer cells in her womb, similar to those produced to fight cancer. Instead of fighting illness, the cells attacked the “foreign body”, ending the pregnancies.

She said: “We all have these cells and they’re what we use to fight cancer and illness. But mine were very aggressive and they were killing my babies.”

Pregnant for the fifth time, Samantha underwent treatment to suppress her immune system and she gave birth to Ted five weeks early.

She said: “Ted is our absolute rainbow baby and we’re so lucky to have him.

“But once I had him, I felt that I wanted to give something back.”

Thanks to the support of women following her blog, Samantha raised £1,500 and purchased 700 special rope bracelets with the poem “Too beautiful for earth”.

The bracelets will be placed in the Forget Me Not boxes, provided through fundraising coordinated by staff nurse Hayley Ellenton who works on the gynaecology ward, and contains a notes journal, a packet of forget-me-not flower seeds, a candle, a pendant, a memorial certificate and information on local and national support groups.

Women can also support the Early Pregnancy Unit by attending Samantha’s hour-long Zumba classes on Thursday nights at Bricknell Primary, starting at 6.45pm. It costs £3 for adults and £1 for under 18s and all proceeds will go to the unit.

A young woman from Bransholme has raised more than £1,100 to support neurosurgical patients in our care.

Jodie Baitson –Horrocks, 25, underwent surgery for Chiari Malformation One at Hull Royal Infirmary (HRI) last year and was cared for by staff on Ward 4.

Chiari Malformation One is a rare condition where the brain presses down into the lower part of the spinal canal. In many cases, the condition is identified in childhood but for Jodie, it was only in her twenties when she started showing symptoms.

Jodie and her family were so impressed with the care she was given by staff at HRI that when she left hospital, she was determined to raise money for the ward as well as raising more awareness of her condition.

Jodie and her family set up a GoFundMe page in October and since then, she has smashed her original £1,000 fundraising target.

Jodie, her mum and grandmother all returned to the ward this week to present staff with a ‘thank you’ cheque for an amazing £1,142.41. More than half of the amount, an amazing £625, was generated by staff from Lincoln-based jewellery retailer, John Greed, who heard Jodie’s story and not only organised a raffle to raise money but also gave Jodie a Pandora charm bracelet of her own for Christmas.

Jodie says:

“The staff have really looked after me and the ward deserves it. It’s important to me that I can give something back to help the staff and other patients on the ward.”

The money Jodie has raised through her GoFundMe page will be used to buy equipment for the ward which is likely to include floor standing fans to help patients stay comfortable in warm weather.

The family of a baby who spent the first 64 days of her life on oxygen are offering a free week’s holiday in Spain to raise funds for a unit looking after Hull’s sickest babies.

Frankie Rolfe weighed just 2lbs when she was born early at 26 weeks and was cared for by staff at Hull’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Now, her parents Linzi and Andy, who live in Sutton Park with Frankie and their three-year-old daughter Eva, are raffling a free week at a villa in Spain to help raise funds for the unit based at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.

Linzi, 32, said: “We wouldn’t have been able to bring Frankie home if it hadn’t been for the amazing human beings that work on NICU.

“I am so very grateful to them for being so good with Frankie, for providing such amazing care and giving us a healthy baby to bring home.”

Frankie Rolfe

Linzi, a nursery nurse at Busy Bees Day Nursery in Beverley, started experiencing contractions when she was just over 25 weeks pregnant and was given medication to try to halt the contractions. She was also given steroid injections to strengthen her baby’s lungs.

She was kept in hospital for a few days before being allowed home but just days later, the contractions started again. This time, her labour couldn’t be stopped and she gave birth to Frankie, who was immediately whisked away to NICU to save her life, placed in a special bag to keep her skin moist.

“It was just an awful experience,” Linzi  said. “I was blaming myself because, even ‘though I hadn’t done anything wrong and didn’t smoke or drink during the pregnancy, I felt like I had let her down.

“But then a midwife explained that, sometimes, the cervix just can’t cope with more than one pregnancy.”

With Linzi and Andy by her side, Frankie was put on a life-saving ventilation in the Red Room and had jaundice and then suspected sepsis twice. She was diagnosed with chronic lung disease when she was 28 days old and was kept on oxygen until she was 64 days old.

Ten days later, when their daughter was 74 days old, Linzi and Andy were finally allowed to bring Frankie home to start life as a family of four.

Linzi said: “I did wonder if Eva would be jealous because me and her dad obviously spent a lot of time at the hospital but she’s been absolutely brilliant. She loves Frankie.

“Although Frankie’s got chronic lung disease, we’ve been told she is likely to grow out of it by the time she’s two.

“She now weighs seven and a half pounds so she’s catching up, slowly but surely.”

The couple decided to fundraise for NICU after hearing how the unit used public donations to create comfortable facilities for parents so they could stay with their babies and for extra pieces of equipment like a special incubator described as “the next best thing to the womb”.

A family fun day will be held at Busy Bees Day Nursery in Beverley on Saturday, March 23, with children’s rides, stalls and a bouncy castle

They are also selling raffle tickets for a week’s holiday at a villa in Spain, with tickets costing £5. They will be on sale at the fun day or people can sent Linzi a message on Facebook with their name and address and pay through the Just Giving page.

Although the couple set a target of £500, they have already raised £850 and now plan to keep going to raise as much as possible for the unit.

Linzi said: “We didn’t expect to raise as much as this so quickly so we’re delighted.

“Staff at the unit were just so good with Frankie and we want to do what we can to say thank you.”

Eight staff at Hull’s birth centre are embarking on a healthy living mission to lose weight to help men struggling with their mental health.

Midwives and midwifery assistants at the Fatima Allam Birth Centre set up the 10-week challenge to lose as much weight as possible during the first 10 weeks of 2019.

The team at Hull Women and Children’s Hospital is appealing to local businesses to help sponsor them £1 for every pound in weight they lose, splitting all money raised between Andy’s Man Club and the birth centre.

Midwife Jo Bennett said: “We spend all day every day supporting women and we thought it would be a good idea to do something for men too.

“There’s been a lot of focus recently around men’s mental health and we want to do our bit to raise awareness.

“We also want to raise money for the birth centre so we can offer an even better service to the families who come to us.”

Jo has signed up for the challenge with fellow midwives Katie Headlam, Jess Tyler, Samantha Haw, Jenna Wallis and Pam Dean. Midwifery assistants Jane Thompson and Caroline Andrews are also taking part.

The team weigh themselves once a week and support each other through their own WhatsApp group. They’ve also set up a Just Giving page and are appealing to the public to support their appeal.

A prize will be given to the woman who loses the biggest percentage of her starting body mass at the end of the 10 weeks.

Hull has been named among the top ten NHS trusts in the country for protecting patients, staff and their families from flu this winter.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust achieved the national target of 75 per cent by mid-November, the fastest it has been reached in the trust’s history.

By January 21, 6,500 staff – including 83 per cent involved in direct patient care – had received the flu jab, one of the best vaccination rates in the country.

Simon Nearney, Director of Workforce and Organisational Development, said: “To make it into the top 10 in the country shows how hard our Occupational Health team, together with ward vaccinators, have worked to drive up our vaccination rates.

“Having so many frontline staff vaccinated against flu means we are offering the best protection to already seriously unwell patients.

“Not only are staff protecting themselves from a very nasty illness, they’re also protecting their loved ones and patients by taking up the offer of a free vaccination.

Last year, staff took 5,575 days off sick through colds and flu. Research shows a 10 per cent increase in staff vaccinations can result in a 10 per cent decrease in sickness absence.

Evidence from NICE also suggests a link between lower staff vaccination rates and increased patient deaths.

The trust’s Occupational Health nurses trained 114 volunteer vaccinators to administer the jab to staff as part of this year’s campaign, which runs until February.

Drop-in clinics were also held in the dining rooms at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital in the mornings and at lunchtime every week in October and November to ensure as many staff could attend as possible.

Vaccinations were also offered to staff at training events, when they attended Occupational Health appointments and at monthly induction days for new starters.

Plans are already under way to encourage even more staff to take up the offer of free vaccinations next winter including volunteer vaccinators based in every ward and department.

A mother with an ultra-rare kidney disease is planning to walk across the Humber Bridge with her two young sons to save lives.

Kylie Canvess, 27, was diagnosed with a genetic kidney disease affecting fewer than 200 people in England and thought to have claimed the life of her grandmother Patricia when she was just 19.

Now undergoing kidney dialysis three times a week at Hull’s Dialysis Unit at Hull Royal Infirmary, Kylie is planning a sponsored walk with sons Jeye, 9, and Connor, 7, and other members of her family and friends to raise funds for Kidney Research UK ahead of this year’s World Kidney Day on March 14.

Kylie said: “It’s thanks to research that I’m here to see my children grow up.

“We’ve come so far because we think my Nanna had the same thing but they couldn’t save  her 50 years ago but they can keep me alive.

“This is my way of giving something back.”

Kylie’s grandmother Patricia Anne Canvess on her wedding day

Kylie, of west Hull, was diagnosed with focal segmental glomeruloscelerosis (FSGS), a type of kidney disease which causes scarring in the kidneys, in October 2017.

She had monthly check-ups with a consultant at Hull Royal Infirmary and was placed on medication but was able to continue looking after Jeye and Connor and hold down a job as a support worker for people with physical and learning difficulties.

However, last September, she experienced searing pain in her abdomen and noticed blood in her urine.

Her housemate took her to Hull’s emergency department and she was admitted while tests were carried out on her kidneys.

After numerous blood transfusions and plasma exchanges as well as two kidney biopsies, doctors discovered Kylie had atypical haemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS), a rare disease believed to be genetic where abnormal blood clots form in the small blood vessels in the kidneys.

People with the condition normally require dialysis and drug therapy to keep them alive.

As well as special medication to treat her condition, Kylie also has dialysis three days a week for more than four hours each session and is currently undergoing tests to check her suitability for a kidney transplant.

Kylie said: “People don’t realise how important kidneys are until something like this happens to you or someone close to you.

“I’ve had to give up my job and it’s been difficult for the children. We can’t go on holiday because I need dialysis. They understand I have to do it but it does affect them because they worry about me.”

Kylie has set up a Just Giving page to raise funds for Kidney Research UK when she and her sons will walk across the Humber Bridge and back on Sunday, March 10, with dad Michael, brother Ben and sisters Kirsty, Kelly and Chelsea and  friend Lisa Crane.

She said: “Due to research and people funding research, they’ve found a way to keep my condition under control so I get to see my children grow up.

“I wanted to give something back because we have got to hope that in years to come, a cure might be found for this silent, life-long illness through research.”