2020 – A Year In Review

Well, what a year 2020 has been. Musgrove Park Hospital has been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19 in Somerset, and as a charity we have been so proud at what we’ve been able to do to support the Hospital’s work. However, we would never have been able to do anything without your support, so let us start by saying thank you!

We did actually manage to host a few events this year, before restrictions took hold and saw the rest of our 2020 calendar emptied.

First up was the Race Day we held on the 7th January at Taunton Racecourse with a number of our biggest corporate supporters. The day featured a wonderful meal, betting tips from a local expert and the opportunity for the businesses attending to present the winners of each race their trophies. The day raised an amazing £4,093.66 for a number of our Appeals and Funds, and we’re so grateful to those who attended.

We hosted our final physical Pub Quiz of the year in aid of our Cardiology Department on the 17th January at the Vivary Park Golf Club with a large number of teams in attendance. Once again, fun was had by all, and we can’t wait to get back to hosting physical Quizzes after a year filled with virtual ones!

We were honoured to be invited to the 10th Anniversary Celebrations of The Beacon Centre at the end of January, taking time to recognise the incredible impact that the team and Centre has had on the Somerset Community. It was wonderful to hear from staff and supporters that have been a part of the Centre since it opened 10 years ago, and it was wonderful to have Ben Moon, Exeter Chiefs Rugby player, who is currently in his Testimonial Year raising funds for the Beacon Centre where his dad was treated.

Our last physical event of the year was our Valentine’s Fundraising Ball in aid of our Eliot Ward Improvement Project. The night was a huge success, with guests enjoying a 3 course meal, live music and a charity auction at Somerset County Cricket Club. The night raised a brilliant £1,694.09 and we are so excited to get back to hosting events like this again in 2021.

Shortly after this, we really saw the effects of Covid-19 across the County, and with support flooding in we launched our Covid-19 Response Fund. As of the end of 2020, we’ve raised an incredible £622,000, and we’ve already been able to spend some of this money in support of staff and patients.

We funded:

• 150 digital radios for isolated patients to give them a voice in the room

• 15,000+ and counting meals for staff, giving them one less to think about during a busy shift

• 40+ iPads to help isolated patients communicate with their loved ones

• Made funding available for our Activity Coordinators, the Chaplaincy and the Bereavement Team so they have all the resources they need

• Dedicated funding for our Staff Wellbeing Team so they can provide support and guidance to staff when they need it most, including funding a dedicated Staff Wellbeing Phone Line

We were also thrilled to complete our #MusgroveBabies Appeal, raising £100,000 for the Musgrove Maternity Unit to make significant improvements for families having new babies here in Taunton.

The changes, of which some have already been implemented, include:

• Building and equipping two brand new dedicated recovery bays; a two-bedded bay and a single bay to provide enhanced care and improve patient flow
• To create a new central reception area providing a modern, welcoming and comforting environment.
• Upgrading the Antenatal Clinic to provide additional scanning facilities
• Provision of new equipment throughout the Maternity Unit to improve the environment:
  • £24,000 for 3 monitors which observe women’s vital signs
  • £10,000 for a CTG machine which records the foetal heart on pregnant women
  • £24,400 for 20 recliner chairs that will enable partners to stay overnight
  • £1,500 for 3 hand held Doppler machines to detect the foetal heartbeat for prenatal care
  • £9,600 for 14 Medicare bedside cots

In anticipation of not being able to have any physical events this Christmas, like our Christmas Fair and annual Christmas Tree Switch On, we launched the Tree of Light, a chance for supporters to recognise and remember loved ones that they might not be able to see this year. We created a special Love Musgrove bauble with room for a message, and a huge number of you took part by sending in baubles and submitting messages for the team to write, so thank you. The tree in the Concourse at Musgrove is looking wonderful with the personalised messages and baubles.

Once again, we would just like to say a massive thank you to those who have supported Love Musgrove and Musgrove Park Hospital this year. We speak to staff very regularly and they all say that donations really do help boost morale, knowing that the whole of Somerset is behind them.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

From The Love Musgrove Team