Imperial College Healthcare Charity Impact report 2015/2016

Impact Report 

2015/2016 

Imperial College Healthcare Charity 

Helping our hospitals do more 

www.imperialcharity.org.uk 

Imperial College Healthcare Charity is a registered charity 

in England and Wales, number 1166084

The charity's year 

Thanks to your donations, we gave more than... 

£12.1 million 

to St Mary's, Western Eye, Charing Cross, Hammersmith 

and Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea hospitals 

We awarded 

113 

grants in 12 months 

£1.3 million 

to purchase 

stateoftheart equipment 

£494,000 

for research 

£9.1 million 

for capital projects to support the 

Trust in improving our hospital 

wards and waiting areas 

£55,000 

kept families together by 

funding travel and 

accommodation while their 

loved ones were in hospital 

We also gave £555,000 for medical and surgical innovation, £302,000 for special 

projects to enhance patient care and £294,000 to support staff training and wellbeing 

Welcome to our 2015-16 Impact Report. 

This report highlights 

some of Imperial 

College Healthcare 

Charity’s 

achievements 

during the year, 

and in particular 

focuses on the 

real difference 

we have made to 

patients, families, 

visitors and staff 

in and around the 

five hospitals we 

support. The figures 

speak for themselves – over 

£12 million in grant funding to more than 

100 projects, nearly £500,000 supporting 

research, and £55,000 directly to patients 

and families in real financial need through 

our ‘Dresden Fund’ grants. 

Our work is about much more than 

simply the money, important though that 

is. The charity’s extensive art collection, 

displayed in all the hospitals, brings 

moments of calm and reflection to people 

when they are waiting for an appointment 

or visiting a loved one, whilst the crafts 

and music workshops we run for older 

people with dementia and children in 

our paediatric wards have made a really 

positive difference to those patients and 

their families. 

Through our fundraising initiatives, 

and in particular the £2 million More 

Smiles Appeal for the children’s intensive 

care unit at St Mary’s, we are building strong 

relationships with our local communities, 

schools, businesses, trusts and foundations 

and major donors. We are really grateful 

to everyone who has supported us over 

the year, whether by collecting locally, 

undertaking challenge events, raising our 

profile or volunteering at our events and 

activities, or simply by generously 

donating to the charity. 

At the same time, the charity has 

continued to develop new ways of working 

with the NHS Trust and its 11,000 staff. 

Lots of staff members have supported 

us through fundraising, and engaged 

with our arts programme, particularly 

through joining our new Staff Arts Club, which 

now has nearly 1,500 members. At senior 

executive level the Trust and the charity are 

collaborating strategically on major projects, 

especially those for which we are providing 

significant capital funding, such as the 

planned improvements to outpatients 

services across the Trust. We are also 

pleased to support the Trust’s volunteering 

service, which will be run by the charity from 

2016-17 onwards. 

I took over as the charity’s chief executive 

in December 2014, so this report represents 

the first full year since I started. It has been 

an enormous pleasure to lead the charity 

during a time of change and growth, and 

to work with my fantastic staff team, our 

dedicated volunteers and supportive Board 

of Trustees. We have exciting plans for 

the years ahead and look forward to 

developing them with our partners in and 

around the five hospitals and throughout 

our local communities. 

Ian Lush, chief executive of Imperial 

College Healthcare Charity 

2 IMPERIAL COLLEGE HEALTHCARE CHARITY IMPACT REPORT 2015/2016 IMPERIAL COLLEGE HEALTHCARE CHARITY IMPACT REPORT 2015/2016 3

Providing support to 

parents when they 

need it most 

Seeing your child lying in a hospital bed is 

worrying for any parent. 

But thanks to a grant from Imperial 

College Healthcare Charity, families of young 

patients at St Mary’s Hospital can get even 

more of the support they need. 

The two-year grant has paid for a second 

family liaison nurse, Jo Williams, to give 

emotional support and practical advice 

during a child’s care in hospital and beyond. 

Jo worked as a paediatric intensive care 

nurse at St Mary’s Hospital from January 

1998 until she started the new post in 

September 2015. 

Jo, who has joined existing family liaison 

nurse Helen Avila, said: “When families are 

experiencing the nightmare of seeing their 

child so ill, it’s my job to support them and 

make them feel like they’re not on their own. 

“Research has shown if a family is 

well supported at a time of a child’s death 

or traumatic experience, it can make a 

huge difference to the way the family is 

able to cope. 

“Now that Helen and I work together, 

we can give more time and better quality 

support to families than Helen could 

previously when she was on her own. 

“The families are always so grateful for 

our help and it’s humbling they can say 

thank you in the darkest time in their lives.” 

Helen and Jo support families across the 

whole of children’s services and maternity, 

particularly children’s intensive care. 

The role includes helping to break bad 

news to families, providing bereavement 

support, taking bereaved families to see their 

child in the chapel of rest, helping siblings to 

understand what has happened, and helping 

to deal with paperwork after a death. 

Other parts of the job include accessing 

charity grants for parents in need of financial 

support while their child is in hospital, giving 

support and advice to families of palliative 

care patients, helping pregnant mothers 

whose babies have been diagnosed with 

life-limiting conditions, and also helping 

children understand when a parent 

has passed away in hospital. 

Jo said: “I have supported a wide range 

of families, including a mum, Janice, whose 

baby, Ella, was critically ill after being born 

prematurely. My background as a paediatric 

intensive care nurse means I feel very 

comfortable explaining what is happening.” 

Ella has now returned home and 

celebrated her first birthday in February. 

In the first nine months since Jo joined the hospital’s 

existing family liaison nurse, Helen Avila, the 

amount of support given to families has doubled. 

Jo currently helps to support about 10 families a week 

on average whether that is face to face, over the phone 

or via email/text. Since Jo has been in post she has 

supported, along with her colleague, at least 20 families 

that have been bereaved at St Mary’s. 

Jo Williams (left) and Helen Avila 

“I will never be able to 

thank the staff at St Mary’s 

enough for what they 

have done. They saved my 

daughter’s life and they 

have also saved me – 

I couldn’t cope without 

her. Jo’s support was 

invaluable. I was so 

far from home and had 

someone I could talk to and 

who would help translate 

the medical jargon so I 

could understand what was 

happening. Jo also helped 

me access financial support 

when I was struggling.” 

Ella’s mother, 

Janice Stevens 


Creating a more 

dementia-friendly 

space 

“This is a fantastic ward, 

I like it very much” 

85-year-old Witherow 

Ward patient Cyril Alfille 

Hospitals can 

be particularly 

disorientating and 

frightening places for 

people with dementia. 

But the charity has 

helped to reduce the 

confusion for patients at 

St Mary’s by awarding a 

grant for specially designed 

renovations to Witherow 

Ward, which cares for 

people with dementia. 

Jo James, specialist 

dementia lead at Imperial 

College Healthcare NHS 

Trust, said: “We know that 

being admitted to hospital, 

especially through a busy 

A&E department, can be 

really distressing for people 

with dementia and for their 

carers and families. With 

increasing numbers of 

patients with dementia, it’s 

vital that we rethink how 

we organise and design 

hospital spaces. And 

making our spaces clearer 

and more relaxing will bring 

benefits to all patients. 

“We are grateful to the 

charity for their support 

which has enabled us to make 

these important changes.” 

A Trust audit, completed 

in 2015, found more than 

a quarter of Trust patients 

being treated within its 

medicine division had a 

diagnosis of dementia 

and nearly half had some 

evidence of cognitive 

impairment including 

dementia, delirium or 

learning difficulties. 

Key improvements on the 

ward include: 

• specialist lighting 

which mimics changes 

in natural light to help 

prevent patients from 

being confused about 

the time of day through 

artificial lighting 

• a social area where 

patients can eat their 

meals together, which 

is painted orange to 

help stimulate appetite, 

as many patients with 

dementia do not eat 

enough 

• pictures chosen by the 

patients themselves and 

hung over their bed to 

help them find it 

• doors painted in 

contrasting colours to 

help patients easily find 

the showers and toilets 

• matt wooden flooring, 

which replaces the old 

shiny blue coloured 

flooring that could 

be confused by some 

elderly patients as 

water 

• clocks from the 

Alzheimer’s Society that 

tell the time and date, 

which are known to help 

orientate patients with 

dementia 

• a specialist cubicle 

has also been 

developed within the 

A&E department at 

St Mary’s Hospital to 

support patients with 

dementia. A specialist 

heated trolley and 

activity packs help to 

create a more calm and 

secure environment for 

patients with dementia 


Helping cancer survivors 

get their lives back 

Giving independence to patients with 

chronic lower back pain 

three-year grant from the charity has importantly we needed it to stop 

new self-management programme areas of their life, including the levels of 

A helped to revolutionise the way cancer post-treatment patients waiting hours A is helping to reduce the agony felt by pain they experienced, their quality 

survivors are monitored after they finish and hours in clinic for an appointment. 

patients with chronic lower back pain. of sleep and their mood. They 

treatment. 

“Before this, we were having clinics of 

In a pilot study funded by the charity, also answered questions 

A new aftercare service known as Open 40 or 50 patients, with each of them only 

patients who took part in The Pain Plan on how they coped 

Access Follow-Up (OAFU) has replaced getting about two minutes – that’s not 

had a better quality of life and were better with pain. There 

routine follow-up hospital appointments quality time. 

at coping with pain by the end of their was a 20 per cent 

with a phone-based service to reduce the “Clinics are smaller now so our doctors 

sessions. The programme also led to a improvement 

amount of time post-treatment patients have more time to spend with patients who 

drop in the average number of visits to their in their ability 

spend in hospital. 

need to see a surgeon or an oncologist.” 

GP due to back pain, falling from an average to cope and 

It has now been running at the Trust for OAFU is carried out by a specialist team, 

of three visits in the six months before the a 17 per cent 

two years, and is currently being used by including three cancer support workers 

programme to an average of just once. improvement 

546 prostate, 364 breast and 79 colorectal who provide personal phone contact, 

Dr Gillian Chumbley, the project lead in their quality 

post-treatment cancer patients. 

relay results, enquire about late effects of 

and a consultant nurse in the pain service of life. 

Dr Katie Urch, chief of service for treatment and help patients access a range 

at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Dr Chumbley 

oncology and palliative care, said: “We of support services such as the Maggie’s 

said: “It’s about helping patients to manage said: “The Pain 

weren’t helping them get on with their lives. programme ‘Life after Cancer’ or the 

their pain and giving them back that sense Plan is not designed 

OAFU has been liberating for our patients Macmillan ‘Hope’ project. 

of control over their lives. Once they to replace hospitalbased 

and it was necessary for our staff. 

Patients can use the dedicated 

gain skills in self-management, such as 

programmes for 

“The Trust delivers some of the best phoneline at any time to report worries or 

distracting themselves from pain and not more complex patients, but if these 

survival figures for cancer in the country concerns, and if they need to be seen they 

letting it take over, they are less inclined to patients are happier and it prevents them 

but OAFU was something we really 

will get an appointment within two weeks. 

visit their GP, which allows the GPs more from coming to hospital pain clinics across 

needed for two reasons. Firstly to make The charity grant has also paid for a data 

time for other patients.” 

the country, then money is saved and it 

us compliant with rules and regulations manager to set up and track the patients. 

The study saw 44 people take part frees up clinicians to see other patients. 

but more 

“OAFU enables the patients to both 

in up to six one-to-one sessions with a 

“As a result of the pilot project in 

feel linked to their specialist team and 

pain management trainer. The patients Hammersmith & Fulham, other clinical 

have a route back while being able to 

identified three goals a week during the commissioning groups have been very 

continue with life,” said Dr Urch. 

sessions. This included a function goal to interested to see our results and we hope 

“We couldn’t have done 

strengthen their muscles, such as walking that they will also introduce The Pain Plan 

this without the charity. 

every day. There was also a relaxation goal, in their areas.” 

This was a very different 

such as listening to a relaxation CD to relax Lesley Powls, Rachel Townsend 

and novel approach. 

tense muscles, and an enjoyment goal and Fiona Cameron were also involved 

We needed somebody 

where the patient chose something they in the project. 

to support it to show 

wanted to do each day. 

everyone it could work.” 

Patients completed assessments before 

Rachel Townsend and 

the first session and after the final session, 

Gillian Chumbley (right) 

Katie Urch (left) with 

in which they were asked to score eight 

8 IMPERIAL COLLEGE HEALTHCARE CHARITY IMPACT REPORT 2015/2016 

members of the OAFU team 

IMPERIAL COLLEGE HEALTHCARE CHARITY IMPACT REPORT 2015/2016 9

Making the Major Trauma 

Centre even better 

Hundreds more lives are being saved at 

St Mary’s Hospital thanks to our Major Trauma 

Centre Appeal. 

From traffic accidents to assaults, the Major Trauma 

Centre responds to more than 2,600 calls a year. 

Our Major Trauma Centre Appeal, which finished in 

spring 2016, has paid for new equipment and a new 

member of staff to support head trauma patients and 

their families. It has also supported a life-changing 

project for young people. 

Mike Jenkins, director of trauma at St Mary’s, 

said the charity’s support has been invaluable. 

“The Major Trauma Centre Appeal has allowed 

us to do things we wouldn’t have been able to do 

otherwise because they would have been outside 

NHS funding,” he said. 

The appeal has paid 

for state-of-the-art 

equipment that can quickly 

get blood into severely 

injured patients. 

Blood loss is a leading 

cause of death for major 

trauma patients but the 

two machines, known as 

Rapid Belmont Infusers, are 

helping to prevent this. 

Mr Jenkins said the 

equipment, which is in 

the resuscitation area and 

theatres, has already helped 

to save hundreds of lives. 

“In trauma we have what 

is known as ‘the platinum 

10 minutes’. Having access 

to a Rapid Belmont Infuser 

allows us to save more 

patients – otherwise we 

wouldn’t be able to get blood 

into them fast enough,” he said. 

“Our preparation for 

individual trauma victims 

translates into our readiness 

for major incidents such as 

terror attacks.” 

People who have 

experienced a head injury 

are being helped to get 

their lives back on track 

thanks to a specialist 

support worker. 

Members of the 

major trauma 

team with 

the Rapid 

Belmont 

Infuser 

The link worker gives 

patients and their families 

practical advice and 

emotional support, as 

well as help with accessing 

support networks, 

benefits and referrals to 

other services. 

The post was funded by 

brain injury charity Headway 

for the first six months, 

followed by our Major 

Trauma Centre Appeal for 

the next six months. 

Ruth Dixon Del Tufo, head 

of major trauma and 

emergency pathways, said: 

“The clinical team does an 

amazing job but after that 

the patients have got the 

whole of the rest of their 

lives to recover emotionally 

and physically. The Headway 

worker is a link worker 

that can unlock things – 

give them access to other 

charities and resources.” 

In the first six months, 

the link worker has made 

contact with 188 brain 

injury survivors and 

69 family/carers. 


Members of the Redthread team 

youth project supported 

A by the Major Trauma 

Centre Appeal is helping 

young people who have 

been involved in violence to 

turn their lives around. 

The youth violence 

intervention project at 

St Mary’s, run by youth 

work charity Redthread, 

sees specialist youth 

workers connecting with 

victims while they are still 

in hospital. 

Robbyn Linden, 

Redthread programme 

manager, said: “Research 

has suggested there is a 

‘teachable moment’ where 

if you can get to a young 

person when this 

traumatic event has just 

happened, you can help 

them make different 

choices. If the interaction 

happens later then the 

moment has been lost.” 

In its first year at St Mary’s 

Hospital, the project 

successfully engaged with 

354 young people. The 

majority (61 per cent) 

of the young people 

risk-assessed directly 

witnessed violence 

regularly or occasionally 

and 20 per cent said they 

initiated violence. But 

thanks to the project, 

some of these young 

people’s involvement with 

violence had reduced 

six months later. 

The project also 

found 21 per cent of the 

young people assessed 

were regularly or 

occasionally participating 

in crime, but this 

reduced for some young 

people six months after 

their first contact with 

Redthread. 

John Reece, Redthread 

team leader at St Mary’s 

Hospital, remembered 

helping a teenager who 

was clinically dead and 

was brought back to life. 

The 16-year-old’s 

teachable moment came 

when John asked him 

‘what would a 25-year-old 

you say if he was looking 

at you?’. 

John said: “He had 

never considered what 

that might be like, or if 

he would get that far. He 

became really hard on 

himself and said, ‘I’d say 

what am I doing, I can’t 

believe I’m doing this,’ and 

it really made him stop and 

think. I could sense a shift 

in the way he was. 

“The bravado stopped, 

and he allowed himself to 

think about what he might 

have. He said he wanted to 

have a job, to have a wife, 

to have children – quite 

young to have all those 

things, but that’s what 

he wanted. And I think 

he found it hard to think 

about all those things 

as a 16-year-old that 

was involved in so much 

violence.” 

The 16-year-old is now 

at college and not getting 

into trouble. 

Giving a new lease of life 

to the Birth Centre 

“I gave birth to my second 

son here in 2014 before the 

renovations, and visited 

again while I was expecting 

my daughter in February 

2016 after most of the work 

had taken place. There was 

no comparison. It used to be 

outdated but now it’s a 

home from home. It feels 

new and much more 

relaxing.” 

Mother-of-three Noirin 

McCarthy, pictured with 

daughter Maisie Kelly 

Your donations have 

helped to complete 

state-of-the-art 

refurbishments at the Birth 

Centre in one of London’s 

busiest maternity units. 

Developments were 

needed in the Birth Centre at 

Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea 

Hospital in West London 

after the number of births 

there increased from 700 to 

900 in the space of a year. 

As a result, the charity 

launched a £500,000 appeal 

to help create a new birth 

room with en suite facilities, 

renovate the six existing birth 

rooms, install two new birthing 

pools, and install resuscitation 

units for newborns into every 

birth room. 

The appeal also saw the 

creation of a new reception 

area, a new antenatal 

waiting area and birth 

preparation room, as 

well as an antenatal 

assessment room. 

Consultant midwife, 

Pauline Cooke, said: 

“The renovations 

have given a 

new feel to 

the place, 

which 

complements the excellent 

care we give. 

“The new room means 

the number of births taking 

place in the Birth Centre 

can increase from 16 per 

cent of all births at Queen 

Charlotte’s to 20 per cent. 

“The resuscitation units 

mean that if we need to, we 

can resuscitate the baby in 

the room with the parents 

rather than taking the baby 

out to the corridor where 

the resuscitation unit was. 

It doesn’t happen often 

but when it does it’s very 

worrying for the parents 

to see their baby being 

whisked away in those 

precious moments just 

after the birth.” 

Pauline also said the 

new birthing pools fill 

quicker than the old ones, 

the new reception area 

means women can be 

greeted as soon as they 

walk in the door and 

new double beds in the 

refurbished rooms allow 

families to spend their 

first hours together. 

The Birth Centre had 

not been renovated since 

it was opened in 2001. The 

work has now brought it 

up to the standard of St 

Mary’s Birth Centre, which 

the charity also renovated 

through your donations 

in 2008. 


Improving the hospital experience 

for cancer patients 

Helping parents stay near their 

babies in hospital 

Shorter waiting times, 

a more efficient layout 

and a brighter environment 

are just some of the 

changes staff and patients 

are benefitting from in a 

cancer clinic at Charing 

Cross Hospital. 

The charity has funded 

work in the hospital’s 

oncology outpatients 

department, also known 

as Clinic 8, which has seen 

the creation of separate 

welcome and discharge 

reception and waiting areas 

to keep patients moving in 

a flowing anti-clockwise 

direction, as well as a 

central staff ‘hub’ where 

staff can discuss patients. 

These changes have 

helped to transform the way 

the clinic is run, and patients 

now also get to ‘own their 

room’ with doctors coming in 

to see them rather than the 

other way around. 

Dr Katie Urch, chief 

of service for oncology 

and palliative care, said: 

“Previously, we had patients 

overwhelming the clinic 

area, long waiting times, 

disaffected staff and it was 

a really unhappy place. Now 

it’s incredible.” 

Staff and patient groups 

helped to decide how the 

clinic would look. 

The grant has also paid 

for the creation of three 

new rooms in the clinic 

for research, admin and 

psychology appointments, 

new computers on 

trollies, as well as the 

transformation of the 

weighing area, information 

wall and blood room. 

Dr Urch said the new 

layout and the introduction 

of patient-owned rooms 

have helped to significantly 

reduce waiting times. 

“Patients told us they 

used to book out a whole day 

to come to Clinic 8 but now 

they’re in and out in an hour. 

This work has revolutionised 

the whole running of the 

clinic,” said Dr Urch. 

The charity also hung 

new artworks and supported 

a ceramic installation by 

David Marques. 

“After being diagnosed 

with cancer I had lots of 

appointments in Clinic 8. 

The staff were lovely, the 

treatment was fantastic 

but the environment was 

crowded, uncomfortable 

and cluttered, all of which 

made attending the clinic 

unpleasant and stressful. 

When I walked into the 

newly refurbished clinic last 

week I could not believe my 

eyes. The space has been 

transformed and the new 

furniture, clear signage 

and amazing artwork have 

brought a tangible sense of 

calm and order. I’m certain 

that this will make a huge 

difference to the experience 

of every patient who walks 

through the door.” 

Former cancer patient 

Nicola Pritchard 

Parents of premature 

and critically-ill babies 

at St Mary’s Hospital 

can now stay close to 

their newborns at all 

times thanks to a grant 

from Imperial College 

Healthcare Charity. 

The charity has given 

a grant of £50,000 to the 

Winnicott Foundation to 

help provide six new parent 

rooms with overnight 

accommodation in the 

Winnicott Baby Unit on the 

third floor of the Clarence 

Memorial Wing. 

The new rooms form 

part of the new purposebuilt 

neonatal unit extension 

at St Mary’s, which is 

in preparation for the 

transition of maternity and 

neonatal services from 

Ealing Hospital. 

Sheena Mason, 

foundation director, said: 

“These parent rooms 

will have a very positive 

impact on the parents of 

babies in the unit. Parents 

of sick babies will have 

an opportunity to stay 

overnight. This cannot be 

underestimated when your 

baby is very sick and you 

have to leave the hospital. 

“It’s all about supporting 

the whole family not just the 

baby. It’s a very emotional 

time as they weren’t 

expecting the baby to 

arrive yet and their newborn 

is being cared for in an 

incubator. 

Before the new 

rooms were built, many 

parents had to stay in a 

nearby hotel which meant 

they missed out on precious 

“The rooms also give 

parents an opportunity to 

spend more time with their 

baby, learning the skills 

they need to care for their 

baby upon discharge.” 

The neonatal unit 

extension, which 

is adjacent to the existing 

unit, also includes a new 

Special Care Baby Unit, 

treatment room and a 

multi-disciplinary 

training room. 

A 14 member 

IMPERIAL COLLEGE 

of Trust 

HEALTHCARE 

staff in Clinic 

CHARITY 

8 

IMPACT REPORT 2015/2016 IMPERIAL 

Sheena 

COLLEGE 

Mason 

HEALTHCARE 

in one of 

CHARITY 

the new 

IMPACT 

parent 

REPORT 

rooms 

2015/2016 15

Brightening our hospitals with art 

The charity’s arts team brings works of art into our hospitals to enhance the 

healthcare environment for patients, staff and visitors. 

We have one of London’s leading hospital art collections, with a wide variety of 

paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, stained glass and tapestry. 

The art collection is just one part of our wider arts programme, which also includes 

music workshops for the children at St Mary’s Hospital, craft workshops for elderly patients 

and creative workshops for the different hospital communities. 

Our arts manager, Lucy Zacaria, said: “Our aim is to change the way the hospital 

environment is experienced, seeking to transform a clinical and sometimes intimidating 

environment into a bright, uplifting and reassuring place where the arts are promoted 

for the enjoyment of all.” 

British painter and printmaker Tom Hammick’s prints are part of the Art in Focus exhibition: 

Capturing the Light at Hammersmith Hospital. After this they will be permanently installed in 

10 South and Marjorie Warren wards at Charing Cross Hospital. Hammick’s work reflects on 

man’s place in the world, his dramatic landscapes often revealing the ‘otherworldliness’ of life. 

[Image: 16 IMPERIAL 

Tom 

COLLEGE 

Hammick 

HEALTHCARE 

- Semi, 

CHARITY 

2014] 

IMPACT REPORT 2015/2016 IMPERIAL COLLEGE HEALTHCARE CHARITY IMPACT REPORT 2015/2016 17

1 2 

Here is a selection of the works the team 

has installed in the last 12 months: 

3 

5 

7 

4 

6 

8 

1. Works by Royal Academician Tess Jaray 

were installed in the Peart-Rose 

Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Clinic 

at Hammersmith Hospital. The works on 

display include five works on panel from 

the series After Malevich and prints from 

the series From the Rings of Saturn and 

Vertigo. They illustrate Jaray’s exploration 

of the interaction between colour and form, 

producing geometric abstract shapes. 

2. Art in Focus: Jane Joseph - A View of 

London. This display showed monochrome 

works informed and inspired by the urban 

landscape and included Thames-side views 

at Brentford and Kew and the Lethaby 

Building, Holborn. 

3. Prints from Jealous, an East London 

contemporary print studio, have been 

installed in 6 South, Cancer Services at 

Charing Cross Hospital. The 24 works on 

display were chosen in collaboration with 

patients and members of staff. 

4. Window vinyls by Lucentia Design have 

been installed on Constance Wood Ward 

Chemotherapy Day Care at Hammersmith 

Hospital. 

“The window vinyls have transformed the 

ward by firstly pulling the colour theme 

together and by giving it a unique and 

fresh identity that takes it beyond being a 

standard austere converted hospital ward. 

We no longer have an area that, from an 

aesthetic standpoint, was busy with many 

jarring colours and instead have a space 

that has successfully been injected with 

colour and combines an interesting 

decorative feature with enhanced privacy.” 

Karen Bradley, Trust lead nurse – clinical 

haematology. 

5. Art in Focus - Medicine during the First 

World War: Inter Arma Caritas (Amidst 

the Arms, Love). These photographs were 

selected from the photographic collection of 

the Imperial War Museums. 

6. Art in Focus - Kate Whiteford: The 

Fleming Connection. Whiteford’s series of 

watercolours originated from the artist’s 

commission for the charity, they explore the 

colours of the agar in petri dishes 

in laboratories at Hammersmith Hospital. 

The works are also influenced by the artist’s 

visit to Alexander Fleming’s childhood home, 

Lochfied Farm near Darvel in Ayrshire. 

7. British photographer Nicholas 

Hughes’ works form part of the Art in 

Focus exhibition: Capturing the Light 

at Hammersmith Hospital. They will be 

installed on Fraser Gamble ward, Renal 

building at the end of 2016. Hughes’ work 

examines both the environmental impact of 

population growth and the places in which 

nature still dominates. The selection of 

works are from the series Seascapes. 

8. Photographer Bettina von Zwehl’s 

Profiles III will soon be installed in the Birth 

Centre at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea 

Hospital. The works, which depict six boys 

and girls aged 12 months old, were previously 

exhibited at St Mary’s Hospital to coincide with 

the launch of the charity’s Birth Centre Appeal. 

An important aspect of our activities is the 

series of special exhibitions, Art in Focus, 

which show works by established artists 

or explore a central theme through art and 

imagery. On display in prominent public 

areas, the exhibitions are freely available for 

the enjoyment of patients, staff and visitors. 


Giving NHS staff the chance to enjoy 

London’s vibrant arts scene 

Hundreds of staff at Imperial College 

Healthcare NHS Trust have been 

enjoying free access to exhibitions at the 

Tate, Royal Academy of Arts and the V&A 

thanks to the charity. 

The Staff Arts Club, which launched in 

April 2015, also gives staff the opportunity 

to receive discounts to music, cinema and 

theatre events and win tickets to exhibition 

openings and gallery events. 

It now has more than 1,400 members 

across all five of the Trust’s hospitals. 

Natalie Craven, the charity’s arts officer, 

said: “The Staff Arts Club is a great benefit 

for Imperial College Healthcare NHS 

Trust staff that offers the chance to engage 

with the rich London arts scene. 

“Staff have said that it improves 

relationships with their colleagues, relieves 

stress and makes them feel valued as 

staff members in an NHS that is under 

increased pressure. 

“For the arts team, it enables 

us to get to know members of staff through 

the events we organise and find out how 

we can help improve their workplace 

environment through our permanent 

art collection.” 

“Staff Arts Club is such a fantastic opportunity and a real boost for staff who work long 

hard hours with often little reward... Thank you!” Ona Stewart, Birth Centre midwife 

at St Mary’s Hospital 

Entertaining young patients 

Young patients at St Mary’s Hospital are 

being treated to music workshops 

thanks to events organised by Imperial 

College Healthcare Charity. 

The charity works alongside rock and 

pop music academy The Rhythm Studio 

to arrange weekend visits to patients in 

children’s services, including some of 

the most seriously ill children in the hospital. 

The sessions have seen patients playing 

a variety of percussion instruments in group 

and one to one sessions. 

The charity’s arts officer, Natalie 

Craven, said: “It was brilliant to see so 

many smiling faces. 

“The Rhythm Studio tutors do an 

amazing job of engaging not only with the 

patients but also with siblings and families 

who are visiting.” 

Helping elderly 

patients through 

creativity 

Aseries of artistic workshops funded 

by the charity have been helping to 

stimulate memories and thoughts in elderly 

patients and patients with dementia. 

The project has seen patients in Lady 

Skinner Ward at Charing Cross Hospital 

taking part in weekly afternoon workshops 

involving a variety of art and craft techniques 

from painting and drawing through to 

creating collages. 

It was founded by Royal College of Art 

Masters students Laura Venables and Faith 

Wray, who go by the name of Paper Birch, and 

was so successful at Charing Cross Hospital 

in 2015 that it was rolled out in Witherow Ward 

and Lewis Lloyd Ward at St Mary’s Hospital in 

spring 2016. 

Faith said: “Our workshops can make a 

genuine difference to patients and staff, as 

they give ward staff the time to concentrate 

on patients who are in need of more frequent 

care. Alongside this, workshops can 

encourage mobility of patients and can totally 

change the atmosphere around a ward.” 

Faith and Laura said sessions often 

include chatting and laughing with patients, 

hearing their stories, and involving family 

members in projects when they come to visit. 

Laura said: “There have been so many 

highlights. I remember one week in Charing 

Cross when a mother and son joined our 

session. She was extremely frail at the 

beginning, not making eye contact with me 

and relying on her son to speak for her. 

“Initially they 

didn’t want to make 

anything so they watched 

me demonstrate how to make 

various birds and we chatted. 

Eventually she began to lean in closer to 

get a better look, so we helped move her 

chair closer to the table so she could start 

to make some robins herself. 

“After a while the son decided to join in 

and make a paper crane so we made two 

together simultaneously and the lady 

chuckled and praised him. 

“She commented on how even though 

his version didn’t look anything like mine, 

that it was unique and wonderful, making 

him lean in and give her a kiss and a 

cuddle in thanks. 

“Her son told us it had been amazing to 

see his mum smile and laugh when she had 

been feeling so poorly.” 

Dr Ginny Wright, consultant physician 

within rehabilitation services at Imperial 

College Healthcare NHS Trust, said the 

workshops have had a significant effect on 

patients. 

“We were impressed at the way Laura 

and Faith engaged with our patients, even 

managing to bring some of our more 

withdrawn patients out of themselves,” 

she said. 


Our current projects 

We’re currently involved in several major 

projects and redevelopments across the Trust 

Helping to save even more children’s lives 

We launched our appeal 

to expand and renovate 

the children’s intensive care 

unit at St Mary’s Hospital in 

November 2015. 

The St Mary’s Hospital 

More Smiles Appeal, which 

we launched in collaboration 

with charity COSMIC, is 

looking to raise at least £2 

million towards a £10 million 

project to create a bigger, 

state-of-the-art facility 

to treat the hundreds of 

critically ill young patients 

that come through its doors. 

The remainder of the costs 

are to be funded by us and 

Imperial College Healthcare 

NHS Trust. 

Every year, around 400 

patients are cared for in the 

children’s intensive care 

unit at St Mary’s but it also 

turns away hundreds more 

critically ill children because 

it does not have enough 

beds. This means children 

sometimes have to travel 

as far afield as Birmingham 

for treatment. In 2014, the 

unit had to turn away 233 

children, more than half the 

number admitted. 

The new unit will have 15 

beds, almost doubling the 

current number, allowing 

more than 200 extra children 

to be cared for each year. 

There will also be new 

equipment, a dedicated 

parents’ room and a private 

room allowing space for 

doctors and nurses to provide 

emotional support and care 

to families whose children 

are very seriously ill. 

Consultant Dr Parviz 

Habibi, who set up the St 

Mary’s children’s intensive 

care unit in 1992, said: “We 

are taking steps to double the 

space we have to treat our 

young patients and upgrade 

our facilities so that they 

match the high quality of care 

we provide.” 

The appeal was given 

a boost when Her Royal 

Highness The Duchess of 

Cambridge, who gave birth 

to both of her children at St 

Mary’s, gave the appeal the 

royal seal of approval. 

The Duchess said: 

“The thought of your child 

in an intensive care unit is 

harrowing for any parent. 

“The commitment to 

expand and transform the 

children’s intensive care unit 

at St Mary’s Hospital will 

vitally guarantee more space 

to treat more children and 

support more families. 

“As someone who was 

so brilliantly cared for by 

St Mary’s, I am delighted 

to support the children’s 

Fay Ripley with a family at the 

launch of the appeal 

intensive care appeal, and 

commend the important 

work of all those involved in 

the project.” 

The appeal was launched 

by Cold Feet actress Fay 

Ripley, whose niece was 

treated in the unit. 

She said: “My niece is 

a fit, healthy, bright and 

beautiful teenager. However, 

without the extraordinary 

care she received a few years 

ago at the children’s intensive 

care unit at St Mary’s 

Hospital her story may well 

have ended differently. 

I am so grateful for hers 

and all of the happy 

endings to come 

out of the unit.” 

The Duke and Duchess of 

Cambridge leaving the Lindo 

Wing with Princess Charlotte 


Helping to improve A&E 

Patients who visit the emergency 

department at St Mary’s Hospital are 

set to benefit from £3.5 million worth of 

renovations funded by the charity. 

Dr Ali Sanders, chief of service for emergency 

and ambulatory care at Imperial College Healthcare 

NHS Trust, said: “The layout and design of St Mary’s A&E 

department needs to keep pace with demand. Last year, 

we had a 15 per cent increase in patients arriving via emergency 

‘blue light’ ambulance. The upgrade will provide more spaces for assessment and treatment 

of our most critically ill and injured patients and a more efficient working environment for staff. 

This will mean faster pathways for patients, in better surroundings and with greater privacy.” 

The charity is paying for the emergency department to be reconfigured to provide 

additional resuscitation bays, an improved assessment area and paediatric assessment unit 

within the existing building. 

These improvements will increase capacity, assist more efficient working, 

improve patient outcomes and provide a better patient experience. 

Upgrading outpatient areas 

The charity has awarded £7.2 million to transform outpatient clinics at three of the 

Trust’s hospitals after the Care Quality Commission highlighted a number of 

areas that could be improved. 

Refurbishments are taking place in the clinical and waiting areas used by day case 

patients at Hammersmith and Charing Cross hospitals. This includes main outpatients and 

renal outpatients at Hammersmith, ENT, ophthalmology and main outpatients at Charing 

Cross. Work is expected to finish in March 2017. 

We will be looking outside of this project to support improvements at St Mary’s 

and Western Eye hospitals. 

Main outpatients at 

Hammersmith Hospital before 

work started 

Redeveloping Riverside Theatres 

The Riverside Operating Theatres at Charing Cross Hospital are set to be redeveloped 

thanks to a £1 million grant from the charity. 

The Riverside Theatres are currently outdated but these 

improvements will produce the full set of facilities required 

for elective short stay surgery in one unit: waiting area; 

patient consent rooms; four theatres compliant 

with modern air handling requirements; recovery; 

improved changing rooms and quiet room for 

patients; and improved storage to maximize the 

use of the theatre facility. 

Helping doctors in the fight 

against antimicrobial resistance 

multiplatform application is set to make it easier for doctors to check Public 

A Health England (PHE) guidelines when prescribing antimicrobials such as antibiotics 

and antifungals. 

The charity awarded funding to develop a Point Of Care Antimicrobial Stewardship Tool, 

known as POCAST, which can be used on a desktop or mobile device and will be kept up-todate 

with the latest PHE advice. Professor Alison Holmes, director of infection prevention and 

control at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “Antimicrobial management is a key 

aspect of patient safety and of clinical care. Appropriate prescribing is essential for successful 

treatment and to prevent unwanted consequences of toxicity, Clostridium difficile-associated 

disease and antimicrobial resistance. The bulk of antimicrobials are prescribed in the 

community and antimicrobials are often prescribed inappropriately. Research has shown that 

providing doctors with access to antimicrobial prescribing data, together with patient education, 

can reduce antimicrobial prescriptions, saving the NHS money. 

“We are working with doctors in the community to ensure effective antimicrobial use across 

the whole patient care pathway, not just in hospitals. With GPs and primary care prescribers 

working together with Public Health England, we can really tackle the problem of AMR.” 


Researching the psychological impact 

of early pregnancy loss 

Couples who experience a miscarriage during early pregnancy will receive more of the 

emotional support they need in future thanks to research funded by the charity. 

Jessica Farren, an obstetrics and gynaecology specialist trainee, has been looking 

at the psychological impact of early pregnancy loss by surveying women and their 

partners one month, three months and nine months after a miscarriage. 

Data from the study, which is the first of its kind, is still being analysed, but the 

pilot suggests that one month after a miscarriage, 28 per cent of women experienced 

post-traumatic stress disorder, increasing to 38 per cent after three months. 

Levels of anxiety and depression were also higher in women who had experienced a 

miscarriage than those who had healthy pregnancies. 

Dr Farren said: “Early pregnancy losses are clearly distressing to most women. 

Sometimes this distress can be long-lasting, and severe, such that it impairs a woman’s 

ability to function – in the workplace or at home. At present, miscarriage care takes no 

account of this: the provision of follow-up focuses only on clinical health.” 

Her supervisor, Professor Tom Bourne, said: “It’s an area we understand very little about 

and an area we have never had the capacity to deal with within our clinical facilities.” 


Thank you for all your generous support. 

We wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without you. 

If you would like to find out more about the charity, find out how you can 

get involved in fundraising events or stay up to date with our latest news, 

go to www.imperialcharity.org.uk or email charity@imperial.nhs.uk. 

You can also follow us on Twitter at @ImperialCharity 

or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/charityimperial. 

Imperial College Healthcare Charity is a registered charity in England and Wales, number 1166084 

28 IMPERIAL COLLEGE HEALTHCARE CHARITY IMPACT REPORT 2015/2016

Imperial College Healthcare Charity Impact report 2015/2016

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