NHS Lothian has donated the equivalent of £39,828 of birthing beds and baby bassinettes to Sylvia Lanka Foundation and MedAid International.
When new birthing beds and baby bassinettes were due to arrive at both RIE and St John’s hospital, the staff had raised the question of what would happen to the old equipment. As the sustainability lead, Jane Hopton was approached for guidance on the matter and it was agreed that NHS Lothian would try and find a charity to donate the items to.
Ruth Ropper, Tissue Viability Nurse Specialist, and Andy Hay, Procurement Planning Manager, contacted serval charities including the Sylvia Lanka Foundation and MedAid International.
The Sylvia Lanka foundation is a universal charity that aims to empower the poor by alleviating their pain through the provision of food, shelter, education and medical aid. The birthing beds and half of the bassinettes went to hospitals in Sri Lanka while the rest of the bassinettes mostly went to MedAid International.
MedAid International is a social enterprise whose mission is to provide appropriate and sustainable medical solutions for those in Low Resource Areas to make healthcare accessible to everyone.
Jane Hopton, said: “We are extremely proud of this project and of the hard work and determination displayed by all of our colleagues, to ensure this was able to come to fruition. Special thanks to Muriel Young, Stevie Morris, Lynn Rose and their teams for all their hard work making this logistically possible.
“In terms of sustainability, the numbers speak for themselves. It has been calculated that this project alone resulted in the equivalent of £39,828 in Charitable Donations, 10,240 kg of waste was avoided, and 28,032 CO2 emissions were saved by avoiding associated waste and manufacture.”
