Published 2 February 2023
Baby Lifeline is calling on hospitals, hospices, and clinics, to donate equipment
they no longer use, or are about to replace/upgrade, to its Ukraine Appeal, as
the war enters its second year.
The maternity safety charity and its supporters have already provided more than £500,000 of essential medical aid to health professionals and military personnel, working in some of the most dangerous parts of Ukraine.
Working with a network of local volunteers, Baby Lifeline has been able to ensure its specialist birth bags, and a wide range of other supplies i.e. defibrillators, fetal monitors, body scanners, PPE, incubators, baby warmers, stretchers, beds, wheelchairs, have successfully reached frontline areas, and are already in use.
However, much more is needed as there is an acute struggle to adequately care for the number of women and their unborn and newborn babies in dire circumstances. We are so grateful to the hospitals and hospices that have given incredible support so far. Two of them are outlined here, with more to come:
Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
When members of the maternity team at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals
NHS Foundation Trust identified they had two Philips Fetal Monitors they were no longer using, but were still in good working order, they decided to donate them to Baby Lifeline’s Ukraine Appeal.
Baby Lifeline organised for its partners at Cardiac Services to collect the monitors directly from the hospital, and they were then transported to Ukraine, where they are now being used by health professionals at a maternity hospital in Mykolaiv.
Edward Morris – Chair of Baby Lifeline’s Multi-Professional Advisory Panel (MPAP) and a consultant gynaecologist at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“I am delighted that my own hospital has been able to identify these monitors to send to Ukraine where I am certain they will help save babies lives.
“Many hospitals in the UK are required to modernise their monitoring equipment and I would encourage them to contact Baby Lifeline who will help to make sure their previous equipment reaches the places where it is needed most.”
Ayrshire Hospice
The team at Ayrshire Hospice when approached, realised that its 22 electronic specialist hospital beds would be better put to use in Ukraine, and donated them to Baby Lifeline’s Ukraine Appeal last year.
The Ayr-based hospice, which provides care to patients with life limiting illnesses, was relocating its In-Patient Unit from its home on Racecourse Road in the town, to East Ayrshire Community Hospital in Cumnock, while its premises were updated.
Whilst based temporarily at the community hospital, the hospice no longer needed its own beds. Once in the redeveloped site next year, upgraded facilities will mean that the beds are redundant.
The hospice team, keen for the beds to go to those who needed them most, volunteered to help load the beds, along with Baby Lifeline’s surgical medical equipment, onto a truck leaving for a maternity hospital in Kharkiv in August.
Tracy Flynn – Chief Executive Officer of the Ayrshire Hospice, said:
“My team was delighted to be able to support this fantastic initiative and found it a profoundly moving experience assisting the team from Ukraine.
“The challenges being faced on a daily basis by healthcare professionals and citizens trying to deliver care in a war-torn environment are profound, and I am immensely proud that the Ayrshire Hospice has been able to assist.”
Judy Ledger – Founder and Chief Executive of Baby Lifeline, said:
“We are hugely thankful to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Ayrshire Hospice for thinking of our Ukraine Appeal when the team there realised they no longer had use for perfectly functional equipment. We know that teams working in clinical environments across the country will also have lifesaving items they no longer use and ask if they too will consider donating them for Ukraine.
“After almost a year working in partnership with the Edinburgh branch of the Association of Ukrainians of Great Britain and other dedicated organisations and individuals working in the UK and on-the-ground in Ukraine, we are highly aware of the ongoing need for our support.
“We are asking for everyone who knows of items of equipment that could be used by health professionals in Ukraine to get in contact with us at
info@babylifeline.org.uk, so that we can organise for it to be collected and delivered to those in desperate need.
“As a charity dedicated to improving maternity safety for all, we feel it is imperative to continue our very specific support for Ukraine, and to do whatever we can to provide safety to the women and their babies who are going through labour in worsening conditions – and entering the world in the cold and dark, surrounded by the sounds of missiles and artillery fire.”
For up-to-date information about Baby Lifeline’s Ukraine Appeal, click here.
