One step to go for ten new incubators for Great Western Hospitals Special Care Baby Unit

A staggering £221,652 has been raised so far for the Brighter Futures Incubator Appeal, purchasing nine state-of-the-art incubators for Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s tiniest patients spending time on the Special Care Baby Unit.

In March 2018, Brighter Futures, together with local charity New Life, launched an appeal to raise £175,000 for five Dräger Babyleo incubators. By Christmas last year, they had smashed that target and were well on the way to being able to purchase more than five.

The team kept on going, and the money didn’t stop coming in.

Now, nearly 18 months later, the charity are asking for one final push to help them hit a target which will see double the amount of incubators purchased than what they initially set out to achieve.

Every year, 450 babies need additional support in the first few days, weeks and months of their lives.

These babies, who often weigh less than a bag of sugar and fit in the palm of your hand, are sometimes born prematurely, have difficulty breathing or need additional care to improve their wellbeing following birth.

They rely on everything that modern technology can offer to help them grow and prepare to go home.

The Dräger Babyleo incubators respond to the changing demands of the little patients from delivery to discharge, creating a seamless healing micro-environment.

And, with one last push, the last of ten old incubators could soon be replaced.

Cat Newman, Associate Director of Fundraising, said: "We can't thank our supporters enough for helping us hit and exceed our initial target, and are appealing for them to rally together again for that final push.

“Thanks also to the amazing support from our supplier Dräger and our wonderful fundraising partner, New Life.

"Our local community has been right behind the Appeal from the start. We hope they can now help us raise the funds to purchase the final Dräger Babyleo incubator."

Nikki Taylor, Senior Sister on SCBU, said: "We are so grateful to Brighter Futures and everyone who helped to raise the necessary funds so that we could purchase these new incubators.

"It is so important that we give premature babies the best possible start in life, and these incubators will help to do just that. They are specially designed to cater for the complex needs that many of our premature babies are born with, and they will enable families to be able to care for their babies easier and remain close to them."

To make a donation, or to fundraise for the Incubator Appeal, please visit https://www.brighterfuturesgwh.nhs.uk/fundraising/better-births-projects/special-care-baby-incubator-appeal/.