Kind wishes from overseas

It’s always nice when we receive requests from overseas customers to send gifts to hospital patients in the UK. 

 

We run a website sending gifts to people in hospital on behalf of friends and family who can’t visit the patient in person.  Most of our customers are within the UK who are unable visit the hospital.  This is usually because they live some distance away, though even when you live nearby it can often be difficult to make a visit while the patient is still in hospital.

 

In the case of overseas friends and relations, however, it is generally almost impossible to travel to the UK and visit the hospital.  And of course many of us do have friends or family abroad, often a long haul flight away on another continent.  This is where we like to think the service offered by our website can step in.

What sort of gift does a hospital patient really want?

We’re constantly on the lookout for new products and new ideas for our online business.  We send gifts to people in hospital, or to people convalescing at home, on behalf of friends and family who unfortunately are not able to visit in person.

 

Our most popular lines are silk flower arrangements (partly because many wards don’t permit fresh flowers) and of course cuddly toys, though we do have a wide range of stock that includes puzzles, toiletries and even chocolates.

 

Most of the feedback we get, which generally is very positive, is about two things: how good the basic idea of a hospital gifts website is, and the standard of the service we provide. 

 

But we’re also very interested in knowing our customers’ views on the types of gift we keep in stock.  So if you have any good ideas about what people in hospital would like to receive from their loved ones, we’d be very pleased to hear from you.

Hygiene Rules!

We were interested to read this week that under new Government proposals hospitals that break hygiene rules could be fined – by up to £50,000.  The hope appears to be however that fining would be the very last resort, and that in most cases the NHS Trust involved would be able to work with the Care Quality Commission to resolve the problems.  (The Care Quality Commission is a new watchdog that will replace the existing Healthcare Commission in 2009.)

 

The fact is that rates of Clostridium difficile and MRSA have already dropped significantly – by something like a third in the past year – but it is important to make sure this level of improvement is sustained.

 

We take a keen interest in all matters that affect the wellbeing of hospital patients.  This stems from the fact that we run A Friend in Need, a website sending gifts to people in hospital on behalf of friends and family who can’t visit the patient in person. 

 

Let us hope therefore that the proposed fines never need to be applied.