The BEACH Appeal is the charity’s biggest ever fundraising appeal to provide additional items for the new six-storey building at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital to help transform healthcare across Dorset.
The new building is the size of 115 tennis courts and known as the ‘BEACH’ for Birth, Emergency And Critical Care and Children’s Health. This building will provide new purpose-built maternity and children’s units, an improved major emergency department and one of the biggest critical care units in the country.
The BEACH Appeal follows the work started in 2021 to reconfigure the services at University Hospitals Dorset to improve the way care is provided for the hundreds of thousands of patients that are cared for each year. As a result, Poole Hospital will be focused on planned care with the investment of the new theatres we fitted last year and our construction teams have been flat-out building the BEACH Building at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, ready for spring 2025.
Chief executive officer at University Hospitals Dorset, Siobhan Harrington said: “There couldn’t be a bigger milestone in the history of our hospitals where we see such investment on this scale. Over £500million has already been invested to reconfigure healthcare across Dorset, and now, our hospital’s charity will be raising funds to provide a variety of invaluable items that will ensure the new BEACH building has everything it needs to take our healthcare into the future – above and beyond what the NHS will fund.”
“By supporting the BEACH Appeal, the public will be helping to make long-lasting differences to the experience of every patient, staff member and hospital visitor who comes through those doors. We can together ensure our BEACH building is one-of-a-kind and meets the needs of everybody that depends on our services in the ways we have imagined.”
One of many fundraising items includes an additional state-of-the-art CT scanner to enable double the number of patients to be scanned, diagnosed and treated within critical timeframes.
Funds will go towards a new wellbeing garden adjacent to the new Critical Care Unit to provide a tranquil outdoor space for patients, visitors and staff. And new indoor and outdoor play areas in the new children’s health department to give children joy and a break away from clinical areas.
If the fundraising target is not achieved, these meaningful items cannot be provided which is why University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity is calling everybody in the local community to come together, to back the BEACH Appeal and help make this vision a reality.
Dr Isabel Smith, medical director for strategy and transformation said: “The separation of planned and emergency care within our new and existing buildings will enable us to transform our services with shorter wait times and fewer cancellations for planned procedures at Poole Hospital and the right staff available for timely emergency care at Bournemouth.”
“However, to provide a better patient experience in each of the new departments, we would love to have the additional equipment and facilities mentioned to enhance the care of our patients during their time with us – not just now, but for generations to come. The additional CT scanner and children’s play areas are great examples of this.”
“Staff will also benefit as we can offer facilities to further support their wellbeing while fulfilling demanding roles. We can also attract more medical professionals to join the UHD Team to work in our exemplary facilities.”
Head of Charity, Debbie Anderson said: “Over the next few years, we will be calling everybody across Dorset to come together to help raise funds to enhance our hospitals more than ever before. To help make The BEACH Appeal a success, we’re hoping to team up with charitable trusts, local businesses and community groups who have a shared vision to invest in the area we live in and the hospitals we rely on. We can also support anybody who is willing to take on their own fundraising challenges or activities to support us in their own way.”
“The BEACH Appeal really is a once-in-a generation opportunity for us all to be a part of something special by helping to transform care together for everybody across Dorset.”
To support the investment in where you live and your local hospitals, go to uhdcharity.org/beachappeal.
