League wins more vital equipment for hospital

The 33,000 gift was part of a spending package totalling 65,784 agreed by the charity's general committee last Thursday.

It is also buying two American-made Accu Vein Av300 portable non-contact vein illumination devices for the Conquest Hospital at a total cost of 7,000. The new point-and-click devices will take the hit-and-miss out of inserting needles into veins, reducing the stress on patients.

It is giving 18,564 for the purchase of six Nippy 3 ventilators after hearing of the benefits they will bring for patients with breathing difficulties.

The meeting agreed to buy four Lifeguard 20 stretchers at a total cost of 7,220. The Conquest has a need for eight of the devices.

But the meeting rejected a request to spend around 1,000 on providing a combination flat-screen television and DVD player for the theatre staff and anaesthetists' rest room at the Conquest.

The meeting looked favourably at further bids totalling 62,894 from the Irvine Unit at Bexhill Hospital.

Members heard that under the terms of the will of a benefactor, both the League and the general donations fund administered for the Irvine Unit by Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trust stand to gain 80,000.

The bids include 45,133 to provide all 54 beds in the unit with colour televisions; 9,462 to replace worn furnishings in the unit's reception area and the atrium with hygienic new chairs. The sunny atrium is much used by patients.

The bids also included 1,075 for an electric plinth and a similar sum for a hydraulic model; 550 for two four-panel screens; 49 each for two tri-wheel walkers; 2,000 for a wide-screen television for the unit's gymnasium and 3,500 for plants and seating for the patients' garden.

The league voted 8,000 for garden improvements last year but the work had to be postponed because the PCT was undertaking the internal refurbishment of the unit.

League officers will now discuss the bids with Irvine Unit officers in the light of the 80,000 bequests the league and the unit will receive.