QA Hospital staff collect gifts to donate to people in care homes

Debbie Cartmell from the QA delivers a gift to a resident at Bluewater Care Home as part of last year's appeal

Ellie Reid, a doctor at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham, and her colleagues have been collecting gifts they can hand out to bring a little joy to some Portsmouth residents.

The group were due to go out to care homes and people’s houses today to deliver the beautifully-wrapped gifts.

Ellie, who is a doctor in elderly care, said: ‘Last year, I was overwhelmed with the number of people who gave gifts.

‘I decided to do something a little different this year and as well as visiting care homes I wanted to collect gifts for people who might be alone this Christmas.

‘I was so pleased last year when we got 50 gifts donated to hand out, but this year we have got a lot more, it is incredible.’

Ellie invited people to nominate those who deserve a gift and at the same time asked for donations of presents.

She contacted care homes in Portsmouth and also put messages on social media for people to suggest neighbours, friends or relatives to be recipients

This year, they received 280 nominations for residents across Portsmouth and had presents donated from as far afield as London and Sheffield.

A large portion of the gifts were from staff at QA Hospital, in Cosham.

Ellie said she is now looking forward to going around and handing them out today.

‘The people we decide to give to don’t always get visits, so to go and see them is really nice,’ she said.

‘The response we’ve got is just fantastic. It is a real credit to the people of Portsmouth and the surrounding area, the generosity they have.

‘It is overwhelming and really touching.

‘Everyone wants to make sure people have something to open for Christmas this year and the support is always great.’

As previously reported in The News QA Hospital has also been collecting presents to give out to patients on the ward.

Families from across Portsmouth have wrapped gifts and dropped them off in the main reception to be handed out to both child patients and patients on the older persons ward.

One person to donate was 13-year-old Ethan Roberts-Watt, from Gosport. He saw the hospital’s appeal on Facebook and collected money to buy 35 presents.

He said: ‘Everyone should have a present for Christmas so I decided to start collecting some and getting them wrapped ready for donating.’