QA Hospital staff thank 'generous' community after 1,400 presents given to patients on Christmas Day

As part of an annual appeal to spread some festive cheer QA Hospital teamed up with The News to ask for cash donations.

The cash raised was used for gifts to be given out to any patients having to spend December 25 in hospital.

Rosie Chilvers, from Gosport, was admitted to hospital on Christmas Eve with her newborn son Harry.

The 28-year-old, who works as a nurse at QA, said: ‘Harry was born on December 14, 10 days early as he was meant to be here on Christmas Eve.

‘I was trying to avoid being in on Christmas as being a nurse at the trust it was going to be my first ever guaranteed Christmas off. But we got admitted Christmas eve for IV antibiotics to treat a urine infection. We stayed in for three days worth of antibiotics and then came home with oral medicine.

‘Although it wasn’t exactly the first Christmas we had planned for Harry and our family by being in hospital, it was made much more bearable by waking up on Christmas morning to see the incredibly thoughtful gift from the Portsmouth Hospital Charity Christmas appeal.’

In previous years the Christmas appeal asked people to donate physical gifts, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic this was changed to online cash donations to minimise the risk of infection.

Also due to the pandemic only a limited visitors are currently allowed in the hospital, apart from in exceptional circumstances. This means that many family members could not visit their loved ones as they would like this Christmas – making the appeal even more important.

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Kate Sandys, the head of Portsmouth Hospitals Charity – which ran the appeal, added: ‘We’re continuously grateful for the support we receive to our appeals, and our Christmas Appeal was no exception.

‘The generous donations from our local community allowed us to purchase a gift for every patient spending Christmas day in QA Hospital, and we thank you for that.’

Presents were given in the form of individual goodie bags.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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