A couple who have donated more than £150,000 to a hospital neurosurgery department in memory of their daughter have pledged to continue fundraising.

Ruth and Tony Knowles have donated £6,800 to Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, bringing their fundraising total to £153,000 in the 19 years since daughter Emma-Jayne died.

At a presentation attended by neurosurgery staff, trust chairman Terry Moran and trust chief medical officer Kevin Phillips, Mrs Knowles said she and husband Tony would never give up trying to help the trust, which runs Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital.

She said: “As long as I can draw breath, we will carry on.”

The couple began fundraising for the trust after Emma-Jayne died of an inoperable brain tumour in 1998.

Emma-Jayne was working as a post woman for the Royal Mail when she started experiencing double vision and cold hands. She went to her GP and an MRI scan revealed she had a brain tumour.

She was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary in April 1998 under the care of consultant Kevin Morris and was found to have a rare brain tumour affecting just one in 1.5m people.

With the tumour too deep in Emma-Jayne’s brain for surgeons to operate, she received 35 radiotherapy sessions but died in December 1998, six days before Christmas and two weeks before her 23rd birthday.

Her parents asked for donations instead of flowers at Emma-Jayne’s funeral and raised £1,100, donating half to the GP surgery and half to Hull Royal Infirmary’s neurosurgery department.

When they attended Hull Royal to hand over their first cheque, Mr Morris told them he was attempting to raise £12,000 for a spinal turning bed.

Determined to achieve something good in their daughter’s memory, the couple embarked on a fundraising challenge, raising the money for the bed through a series of charitable events including a popular annual bikeathon event.

However, they decided to keep on raising money for the hospital and, 19 years after their daughter’s death, they have raised enough money to pay for dozens of pieces of vital equipment.

Mrs Knowles said: “When Emma-Jayne was brought here, everyone was fantastic and we wanted to say thank you.

“Emma-Jayne didn’t like any fuss so she would have killed us for all this. But I think she would have been proud of us.

“There are so many youngsters now with cancer and everything else. If we can give something back, it helps.

“It won’t bring Emma-Jayne back but it helps. As long as I can, I will keep on going.”

The couple, of Sutton-on-Sea in Lincolnshire, were awarded the British Empire Medal in the New Year’s Honours List in 2014 in recognition of their fundraising efforts.

Presenting the couple with a bouquet when they visited Ward 40, and neurosurgeon Chittoor Rajaraman said: “They have raised a phenomenal amount of money for us over the last 19 years and we’re very grateful for all they have done.

“It encourages us and gives staff such a morale boost when people take the time to thank us like this.

“It is amazing to see the incredible amount of effort they have put in and we are so glad they have received the Queen’s recognition for the work they have done.”

A mum with cystic fibrosis says her battle against chronic lung infections has become harder because of antibiotic resistance.

Laura Harmer, 31, has physiotherapy every day and nebuliser treatment regularly to prevent life-threatening infections.

However, when she develops an infection, there are now only two forms of potentially life-saving antibiotics Laura can be prescribed because of growing resistance to antibiotics.

Today, at the start of World Antibiotics Awareness Week, Laura is supporting Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s appeal to people to only use antibiotics when they are really needed.

Laura, who lives with her husband Phil and nine-year-old son Joe in Brough, said: “There are only two drugs I can take intravenously now that make a difference and even one of those doesn’t work as well as it used to.

“It’s worrying and really scary. It does frighten me to think what if there comes a day when the only drugs they can offer me stop working too? What will happen to me then?”

Patients are urged to use antibiotics wisely

Public Health England has launched its Keep Antibiotics Working national campaign to halve inappropriate prescription of antibiotics by 2020.

Overuse and misuse is creating resistant strains of bacteria against which none of the current antibiotics work.

Unless the problem is addressed, antibiotics could stop working, meaning people could die from common bacterial infections, during chemotherapy for cancer and after childbirth, and from infected wounds or conditions like pneumonia.

Dr Gavin Barlow, consultant physician at the Department of Infection, has seen the problem of antibiotic resistance worsen since arriving at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in 2004.

Around 10 per cent of the 450 cases of E.coli, the most common bloodstream infection seen at the trust each year, are now showing a relatively high level of resistance to antibiotics.

About one in five are resistant to three or more of the most commonly used antibiotics, making patients more difficult to treat.

This forces doctors to rely on broader spectrum antibiotics, which pours further fuel on the drug resistance fire.

Dr Barlow, antimicrobial stewardship officer for the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, said: “Countries like Greece, Italy, the US and India are already seeing untreatable infections and don’t have antibiotics active against them.

“Doctors there have to concoct combinations of antibiotics in the hope that they will work even though the bacteria are resistant in the laboratory.

“We already have a problem with antimicrobial resistance in the UK, and in Hull, but it’s not yet as bad as some other places.”

He said the majority of cases of highly antimicrobial resistant infections in Hull usually involve patients who have been abroad and have returned to the city or are in those who have to take a lot of antibiotics because of underlying illness, such as in cystic fibrosis.

“Many of the very resistant infections I see are imported, perhaps involving someone who had travelled abroad, been injured, taken ill or received healthcare, and has come home, bringing a resistant organism with them.” he said.

“We’re seeing moderate level resistance fairly frequently now and this emphasises the importance of only taking antibiotics when they are really needed.”

Restricting antibiotics for serious bacterial infections means people like Laura Harmer will be spared the worry of wondering if treatment will work.

More than 10,000 people in the UK have cystic fibrosis and one in 25 carry the faulty gene responsible for the genetic condition. People with the condition experience a build-up of thick mucus in the lungs, digestive system and other organs, causing chronic infections.

The bacteria that cause Laura’s infections have become resistant to many types of antibiotics, forcing her to rely on just two when she develops infection.

She said: “I’ve developed head-to-toe rashes and become very unwell almost straight away because of bad reactions to IV antibiotics and my options are very limited now.

“My son has only had antibiotics twice in his life because my family see it from my perspective.

“But I’m not sure people realise just how serious this situation is becoming and it’s frustrating.

“I’d just ask people to think of people like me and not use or expect antibiotics from the doctor unless they are really needed.”

Hull Royal Infirmary’s emergency department sees spike in attendances

A plastic surgeon is warning people of the dangers of life-changing injuries caused by fireworks and sparklers.

James Haeney sees devastating injuries around Bonfire Night as part of his role as consultant plastic surgeon at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

In the UK, last year, fireworks and sparklers were responsible for around 990 injuries, with 494 children hurt and 479 people needing to be admitted to hospital.

Hull Royal Infirmary’s emergency department and plastic surgery team are able to treat most of the injured although people with severe burns are transferred to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield or Sheffield Children’s Hospital.

Mr Haeney and his team have treated numerous patients who have suffered hand injuries including multiple finger losses and blast injuries caused by fireworks over the years.

He said: “Most of the injuries we see are people who were having fun in their gardens or children and young men who have been messing about with fireworks and get injured. We see very few injuries from organised displays.”

“But these injuries, especially to hands, can be devastating. I’ve seen patients with multiple missing fingers and complex nerve injuries, tendon injuries and fractures meaning the hand will never work normally again.

“These aren’t common injuries but we do see them.”

Mr Haeney has helped people suffering burns when picking up sparklers, which have just gone out after burning at the same ferocious heat as a welding torch.

He has also treated people who have been standing too close to fireworks when they go off.

“Over the years, I’ve seen some really nasty injuries caused by people messing about with fireworks and setting them off too close to where people are,” he said.

“We’ve had blast-type injuries caused when fireworks are set off as people are holding them and some of them have caused life-changing injuries.”

“The ED will see, treat and discharge the majority of minor injuries but a small number of those in need of significant acute care will be transferred directly to the plastic surgery team or directly to the burns units if required.”

Emergency department consultant Chris Srinivasan said frontline staff see around 30 firework-related injuries around this time of year.

He said: “We see a lot of burns, with burns to the hand very common and the loss of fingers. But it’s important to recognise these burns aren’t superficial like you would get from a hot kettle.

“They can involve skin grafts and burns which require intervention from our plastic surgery team and staff at burns units in other parts of the country.”

He appealed to people to behave responsibly around fireworks if they are holding Bonfire Night parties this weekend.

“We don’t want to spoil people’s fun and there’s nothing wrong with having a drink and a laugh at a party,” Dr Srinivasan said.

“But we’d just ask people to be responsible around fireworks and bonfires so they don’t end up with an unplanned visit to the emergency department.”

A 103-year-old building where Hull’s paupers received medical treatment is being demolished, brick by brick.

The Haughton Building is being knocked down to make way for the new £500,000 helipad bringing critically ill patients to Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Workmen are demolishing part of the building by hand, removing each brick individually, because of its proximity to the railway line, one of the main arteries to the A63 on Argyle Street and Hull Royal Infirmary’s tower block.

Duncan Taylor, director of estates, facilities and development , said demolition work is expected to be completed by Christmas.

“It’s fair to say this job poses a few challenges,” he said. “We are having to hand-demolish part of it to prevent debris either falling onto the railway track or the main road.

“We have to do all we can to control the dust and debris associated with the demolition and these measures will help us do that.”

A Nightingale ward in the former West Block

The three-storey, red-bricked building has been a city landmark since it opened in 1914 as an infirmary treating paupers from Hull Workhouse before the NHS was created in 1948.

Mike Pearson, who looks after the trust’s archive, has sourced images of the building throughout the decades.

He said shortly after opening, it was a centre for frontline casualties arriving at nearby Paragon Station on special ambulance trains during the First World War before becoming a naval hospital for injured sailors in April 1917.

When the war ended, it returned to its original purpose as an infirmary until workhouses were replaced by “public assistance institutions” from 1930. The Haughton Building became part of the Anlaby Road Institution Hospital, run by Hull Corporation.

King George V and Queen Mary visit the hospital in June 1917

However, when World War Two broke out, it was used as a casualty receiving hospital for Hull people injured during the Blitz. They were taken to the building first for assessment before being transferred to Princess Royal, Castle Hill or Westwood hospitals.

Mike said the building transferred to the NHS after 1948 and was part of the Western General site until Hull Royal Infirmary’s tower block opened in 1967.

Then known as the West Block, its eight wards were used as Nightingale wards, where patients were treated in large dormitory-style rooms.

The 103-year-old building is being demolished

It became known as the Haughton Building, named after 19^th century hospital board member David Haughton in 1995. The last inpatients left the building in 2008 when the building was considered unsuitable for modern medicine and hospital care and was used as a linen store and for administrative services.

The Haughton will now be demolished to make way for the helipad, funded by a £500,000 donation from the HELP Appeal.

Measuring 30m by 30m, the helipad will be raised up to a metre off the ground next to the trust’s emergency department, saving vital minutes in transferring seriously ill and injured patients.

Work will begin on the helipad early next year.

More than 3,000 vaccinated at special clinics in just two weeks

Thousands of hospital staff have received flu jabs within two weeks of the launch of special vaccination clinics to protect patients this winter.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust launched the clinics and a team of volunteer vaccinators is working round the clock across departments to encourage staff to take up the offer of flu jabs, ensuring maximum protection for themselves, patients and their families this winter.

Vaccinators trained in delivering the jab are working in different departments at Hull Royal Infirmary and Castle Hill Hospital to vaccinate staff who would struggle to leave their posts.

And within two weeks, more than 3,000 people, more than a quarter of the trust’s 8,000-plus workforce, have answered the call to get their jabs before the end of November.

Chief medical officer Kevin Phillips said: “We want our staff to be protected against potential infection so they can help ensure we can deliver care to our patients in sufficient numbers over the winter.

“Frontline staff are at a high risk of catching any viral infection and that means they are at a high risk of spreading it to other areas or to their families.

“By getting the flu vaccine, they are protecting themselves and the wider community and ensuring we have enough staff to help care for patients who get sick.”

Flu vaccinations are considered vital for health staff, particularly this winter after Australia and New Zealand were gripped by the worst outbreak in years, with 170,000 cases recorded.

The trust, which runs Hull Royal Infirmary, Castle Hill Hospital and Hull Women and Children’s Hospital, is offering free flu clinics to employees as part of a national campaign to vaccinate NHS staff.

All staff receiving vaccinations between now and the end of November will qualify for an extra day off as part of a trust incentive scheme to ensure as many staff as possible get their jabs.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust Trust has been one of the country’s best performing NHS trusts in terms of staff vaccination rates for the past five years. Last year, 78 per cent of frontline staff were vaccinated against flu.

The phenomenal response in the first two weeks suggests Hull could be on track for a record-breaking vaccination rate.

People in good health who catch flu are usually expected to recover within a week or so of contracting the illness.

However, it can have severe consequences in anyone aged 65 and over, pregnant women, children and adults with underlying health conditions such as long-term heart or respiratory diseases and those with weakened immune systems

At-risk groups are also more likely to develop potentially serious complications such as pneumonia.

Trust head of occupational health services Carole Hunter said: “We think the publicity about the outbreak in Australia has made people realise the importance of getting their flu jab this year.

“We’ve also introduced new ways of allowing people to receive their vaccinations. As well as clinics in departments and in the hospital dining rooms, we’ve got volunteer vaccinators who are going to staff working across the trust so they don’t even have to leave their posts.

“We’re really happy with the response so far and hope staff will continue to come to clinics over the next two months so we can have as many people vaccinated as possible.”

Hospital staff are raising awareness of a potentially life-threatening condition which affects one in 250 people, often without their knowledge.

A team from Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust will attend this week’s Health Expo to explain how familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) can increase the risk of developing heart disease and how people can minimise the risk of suffering an early heart attack.

Hull Lord Mayor Councillor John Hewitt and Lady Mayoress Betty Hewitt will be visiting the Health Expo stand at City Hall at 11am on Thursday to watch an animation explaining the condition linked to high cholesterol levels and speak to staff spearheading the awareness campaign.

FH nurse Paula Sutton, who works at Hull Royal Infirmary, said: “If you have lost parents or grandparents to an early heart attack, we have the ability to reduce the risk of that happening again to you or another member of your family.

“We can help people create a great legacy for them and any child born into their family to change the course of their lives and reduce the chances of developing heart disease.”

Cholesterol plays a vital role in the body but it increases the risk of heart disease if levels get too high, usually when people enter their 40s and eat too much saturated fat found in butter, cheese, cakes or pastries.

Around 250,000 in the UK have inherited FH, a genetic condition meaning their cholesterol levels are higher than normal from birth and continue to rise, regardless of their lifestyle.

A baby born to a parent who has FH has a 50 per cent chance of also having the condition.

Uncovering the condition in a family matters because a 40-year-old with untreated FH has the same heart attack risk as a 70-year-old.

Many people are unaware of the condition, which often has few or no symptoms. If untreated, about 50 per cent of men and 30 per cent of woman with FH will develop coronary heart disease by the age of 55 and each day, one person with FH has a heart attack.

However, people diagnosed with FH can be treated before heart disease develops and live as long as those without the condition.

The team’s appearance at Health Expo comes ahead of the launch of a new trust service in December as part of a regional campaign to raise awareness across Yorkshire and the Humber.

Based at Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and led by consultant Deepa Narayanan, patients referred to the service by their GPs will be assessed and family trees considered to reveal patterns of early deaths linked to heart disease.

Those considered at risk of FH will undergo a genetic test. If the result is positive, other family members will be encouraged to have the test and drug therapy to lower cholesterol and prevent the development of heart disease.

FH nurse Rachel Dunn said: “Our message to people is simple: if you have experienced the death of a relative from a heart attack early in their lives, just have that conversation with your family to see if it was a one-off or if there might be something more to it.

“Getting your cholesterol checked through your GP or as part of a health check is an important first step.

“People tend to accept heart disease runs in the family but you can do something about it. If the cause is high cholesterol we can help stop that story being repeated, generation after generation.”