Bosses at Sirona care & health have paid tribute to the Friends of St Martin’s Hospital who have disbanded after raising funds for the hospital over six decades.
The Friends was founded in July 1954 and over the years has funded a wide range of improvements to help patients and staff alike, from ward refurbishments to new equipment.
At the peak of the Friends’ fundraising, in 1999, the hospital benefited from £58,504.23 worth of spending by the group in that year alone.
However, increasing difficulty in raising money and recruiting new trustees has led to the decision to stop their work, explained chairman David McEwen.
He said: “In the last 11 years the Friends have funded the installation of piped oxygen to each bed space in the Sulis Unit; a complete refurbishment of Ward 4 domestic furnishing and the purchase by Bath Freewheelers of a new BMW motorbike.
“During the same period the Friends extended the scope of their purpose so that they could provide funds to help RICE [research into care for older people] and the three local authority residential homes.
“The work undertaken by the association would not have been possible without the support of the relevant local health authorities.”
The hospital’s changing role – serving as a general community hospital in the group’s early days, and later as a specialist maternity hospital and centre of excellence for geriatric care when services such as A&E were transferred to the Royal United Hospital – meant the Friends adapted over the years to meet the different needs of the hospital.
The association’s first goal in 1954, after attracting the support of local councillors and MPs, who were elected presidents, was to build a large hall containing a library and meeting room, named Kohn Hall after St Martin’s Dr Fritz Kohn, who managed the hospital alongside Dr Clara Cross, Bath’s first female NHS consultant.
Money raised by the Friends, which supported some of the pioneering work in the areas of maternity care and care for the elderly carried out at the hospital, came from donations and bequests, as well as an annual fundraising fete on the cricket field at St Martin’s, which was organised by the association until the 1980s.
The Friends celebrated their jubilee year in 2004, holding an AGM in the Guildhall in Bath which was attended by the chairman of Bath and North East Somerset Council of the time, Councillor Marian McNeir.
Jenny Theed, director of operations at Sirona said: “Patients within St Martins Hospital have been extremely fortunate to have the support of the Friends of St Martins who have worked for many years to provide numerous pieces of equipment and services that have benefitted them during their stay in hospital.
“The Friends have provided medical equipment as well as therapeutic support such as aromatherapy training for staff to use with patients during their stay.
“Only recently the Trustees were able to make a final large donation to the Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service to provide a new motorbike to transport essential medical products such as blood to the hospital in a more timely way.
“We are really sorry to be losing the Friends but we totally understand how difficult it now is to recruit new members and those currently on the committee really do deserve their retirement.
“We will always be grateful to them for their fantastic support over the years and we are currently considering ways in which we can ensure there is a permanent reminder of all they have done at St Martin’s.
“Members of the public can still make charitable donations to St Martin’s through the Sirona Foundation. The Foundation is a registered Charity and all monies received will be used for the benefits of our staff and service users.”
