“A wonderful gift for St Luke’s Hospital Oxford on VE Day”
VE Day for St Luke’s Hospital is always a day for remembrance, reflection and celebration. For the Hospital Team, this year’s celebration was made all the more special with the news that the Elise Pilkington Charitable Trust had decided to award the charity £10,000 towards the cost of the new beds for the hospital.
St Luke’s Hospital based in Oxford is a specialist facility that supports frail and vulnerable people who have high dependency nursing needs. Care is provided to these patients in the form of short or long-term services. Typically, patients may come to St Luke’s as they cannot immediately return home following an admission to hospital or they may not be able to live at home, as they would pose a risk to themselves or their family. The Charity has recently undergone a major building programme to add a second floor onto its main building to provide much needed additional space for more beds and patient facilities. St Luke’s reached its capacity some time ago, which led to the trustees making the decision to invest in the infrastructure of the hospital to add an additional 33% more capacity. The grant from the Elise Pilkington Charitable Trust will help pay for four new electric beds for the new rooms.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, St Luke’s has been approached by a number of NHS and other healthcare facilities regarding a bed for their patients. Having the additional beds at St Luke’s during such a challenging time is helping to take the burden off overstretched NHS services. Those patients who no longer need to be in one of the local acute trust hospitals but cannot return home, can now have a place at St Luke’s where their nursing and care needs can be met. Likewise, the additional capacity can enable someone who no longer can remain at home, to come to St Luke’s for respite care.
Luke Ponsonby, Chair of Trustees commented, “On behalf of all the staff and patients at St Luke’s Hospital, I would like to thank the Trustees of the Elise Pilkington Charitable Trust for their generosity and kindness. This grant is coming to us at a time when the Team here is working harder than ever to support our patients and protect them from this terrible virus that has affected so many communities across the world. Having the opportunity now to support many more patients at St Luke’s is only possible thanks to the kindness bestowed upon us from organisations such as the Elise Pilkington Charitable Trust. When we planned the development of the new floor with its additional beds, none of us would have imagined that we would be needing them in such circumstances as these today. Thanks to the amazing care and efforts of our team and the generosity of our donors, I know that we will be here to support many more people who need our care in the years to come.”