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It’s always interesting to get emails from people a long way away, and one of the good things about running the “A Friend in Need” website has been receiving orders and enquiries from people around the world. Just recently, for example, we’ve delivered gifts to hospital patients on behalf of friends and relatives in New Zealand, Switzerland and Russia.
We set up “A Friend in Need” for people who have loved ones in
UK hospitals but aren’t able to visit them in person. There can be all kinds of reasons why they can’t visit, but distance is probably the most common. And of course if being in another part of the UK makes visiting difficult, being in another part of the world makes it even harder.
I guess this is yet another example of how easy it is to communicate electronically with people all over the world, and to access websites that offer products and services in other countries.
We’ve just had some first hand knowledge of the benefits of our Fun Hospital Survival Kit. The father-in-law of a long-standing friend (Sue) was recently taken into hospital after a heart attack. Sue phoned to break the news and during the conversation I suddenly thought of the hospital survival kit. The idea for the kit had, ironically, evolved from a conversation I’d had with Sue a few years ago – and now there would be an opportunity to try it out on Sue’s own father-in-law.
Sue thought this was a great idea, especially as she and her husband were about to fly to the US for a holiday, and this meant they would be unable to visit. Sue’s father-in-law was delighted to receive an unexpected gift while he knew they were in the States. He phoned them to say how delighted he was, and how much amusement it had caused on the ward.
Hi. It’s Julie here.
This week we received an email from someone saying they’d looked at the website and were impressed by the concept. They were thinking of buying something, but wanted to know what the most popular gift was to take to someone in hospital.
Our website is mainly designed for people who can’t get to visit their loved ones – so it is a little hard to judge what’s the most popular gift to take when you visit in person. However, if what people buy from our site is anything to go by, there are three clear leaders:
o The Hug Me bear with a box of chocolate truffles
o Silk flower arrangements – especially the bright, cheery poppies
o Our unique Hospital Survival Kits – only available from our website. One is intended as pure fun to bring a smile to help brighten up a stay in hospital. The other provides practical help to make it easier to cope while in hospital.
But what does everyone else think? If you’ve been in hospital, what was the best present anyone gave you while you were there? Or if you’ve taken in presents to people in hospital, which gift was the best received?
Perhaps I can take a moment to introduce myself. I’m Richard Brett, a co-director of A Friend in Need.
My mother is seriously ill in hospital at the moment after a fall and breaking her hip, which at 96 is all very complicated. But I really have been very pleasantly surprised by the level of care and support she has received at the local NHS hospital, the QE2 in Welwyn Garden City, Herts. All the staff have gone out of their way to provide TLC on top of the clinical care we would expect. I hope this is mirrored by other people’s experiences around the country.
A friend sent my mother a bouquet of fresh flowers, unaware this was against the policy of the hospital ward. However, the nurses allowed her to keep the flowers during the day until we were able to take them away when we visited that evening. This was a very humane approach and typical of the thoughtfulness in all they do.
Has anybody else had any good experiences recently of care in NHS hospitals?
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