Kind gesture for a fantastic team

Staff at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust have received an extremely kind donation from a family who have previously received treatment at Royal Preston Hospital.

Kristy Boffey and her mother Linda Harkin have personal experience of care from staff at Preston Hospital as Linda has previously been treated by the head and neck team two years ago, and underwent major surgery for oral cancer.

Kristy wanted to show her appreciation by supporting staff on ward 3 (the in-patient head and neck surgical ward). Kristy, along with her friend Michelle Varley and their friends, set about raising some money and were able to purchase a teaching mannequin for the ward that enables staff to teach vital tracheostomy skills.

Kristy and her friends and family were also able to donate two Doppler machines to the ward. This is a vital piece of equipment that allows the team to monitor the blood supply to the reconstructed region of the head and neck following tissue transfer from a different part of the body. They also donated two high quality medical examination headlights which can be used in the outpatients department to examine oral cavities.

Kristy is also donating some Boogie Boards to the ward - an electro-magnetic reusable writing board that allows tracheostomy patients to communicate. Tracheostomy patients cannot usually speak with the tracheostomy in place, so the boards will help them to make conversation and feel more comfortable following surgery.

Kristy said: “We were incredibly grateful to all of the amazing staff on ward 3 and the specialist nurses in the head and neck department that contributed to my mums care. We wanted to give something back to show our appreciation so Michelle and I decided to raise much needed funds for an incredible team.”

Andrew Fishburn, Macmillan Lead Clinical Nurse Specialist in Head and Neck at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals, said: “It was a complete surprise when Kristy got back in touch to say that she and her family and friends had raised more money, and such a kind gesture for them to do this for us. We are extremely humbled and thankful to Kristy, her friends and her family for their extremely kind donations. These gifts will benefit our patients and we can’t thank them enough.”