Our Funds

Our general fund is used to fund things that benefit multiple departments or wards. It's also there to support specific projects that individual funds cannot cover.

The general fund can be used to invest in state of the art equipment/technology, improve patient areas, support additional services and support the wellbeing of staff, among other things. The aim of the general fund is to improve the experience of those accessing hospital or community services as well as our staff who work in them.

If you are looking to just provide general suuport to our charity, you can donate to our general funds. Rest assured your donation will make a huge difference to people across the Trust. 

Rise Above Cancer, provides much needed help and assistance to people affected by cancer in the region, including patients, carers and family members. The centre provides;

• A sympathetic listening service for people affected by cancer.
• Benefits and welfare rights advice delivered by dedicated professinal advisors.
• Professional counselling services for patients.
• Professional complementary therapy sessions for patients and carers.
• Look Good Feel Better sessions for patients going through treatment.
• Bandanas for hair loss sufferers.
• Use of a hydrotherapy pool.
• Dedicated pre-arranged parking bays for patients attending chemotherapy.
• Advice and support at chemotherapy sessions.
• Referral to charitable legal advice covering; employment issues, will-writing, etc...

The service relies on charitable donations to continue its vitally important work. 

The purpose built neonatal unit was opened in 2000 and is run by specialist doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. Many of our staff have worked here much of their career, which many parents feel makes the unit like a little community during their baby’s recovery. The Unit is able to care for up to 24 babies at a time between 12 special care cots, 8 intensive/high dependency care cots, 2 mother and baby rooms and 2 isolation cubicles.

The Neonatal unit uses its charitable fund to support the improvement of services on the unit through new state of the art equipment, specialist training and better patient facilities. It has recently used charitable funds to buy two new cots for the unit, replacing older cots with ones that provide better care for the babies on the unit.  

In addition to being able to donate money to the Neonatal Unit Fund, the unit has also set up an Amazon Wish-List which lists a number of low value items which can make life a little easier for parents and babies on the unit.  To view items on the list please click here.  If you do wish to purchase an item, as a charity, we can have an additional donation made by Amazon if you order using Amazon Smile - for more information on how to give whilst shopping click here.

The Paediatric Emergency Department fund is used to provide resources and facilities to make the department a more welcoming place for children. The fund paid for the refurbishment of the waiting area, making it a less clinical place to be. The fund provides toys for use in the waiting area and on the unit to helping to provide distractions and fun activities for children visiting the department.

The fund can also be used to buy new specialist pieces of equipment that the NHS may not normally fund, improving the care given to children visiting the department.

The Trauma and Orthopaedic department provide a range of services, including the fracture clinic and plaster services, as well treating patients with soft tissue injuries. The orthopaedic fund is used to help acquire new state of the art equipment that wouldn’t normally be available through the NHS. The fund will also be used to improve patient areas, including the fracture clinic waiting room and treatment rooms.

Our critical care units look after patients who are seriously unwell, providing high dependency or intensive care depending on the needs of the patient.  We have a 6 bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in South Tyneside Hospital and a 16 bed Integrated Critical Care Unit (ICCU) in Sunderland Royal Hospital.

The ICCU fund is used to support the improvement of services on our units through new state of the art equipment, specialist training and better patient facilities. The fund has funded; specialist physiotherapy equipment, an interactive training dummy that allows for realistic training on the unit, and attendance at an international conference for two senior nurses to learn about new ways of working in critical care the nurses then shared their knowledge with staff on the unit.

The fund has recently funded the addition of skyscape ceiling tiles replacing the plain white tiles with ones that give the impression of looking up at clouds in the sky or through the leaves of trees, giving the unit a less clinical feel.  

Our Eye Infirmary is one of the leading providers of eye health care services in the UK. We are a centre of excellence, delivering outstanding ophthalmic care and research. We have a range of inpatient and outpatient services as well as our accident and emergency department.

The Eye Infirmary receives regular donations into its funds and is constantly using the donated money to improve services and facilities. The funds are regularly used to; buy new equipment, improve patient areas, and replace existing equipment with more advanced technology.  

Recently the Eye Infirmary used its charitable funds to acquire a system that allows staff to view scans taken on different systems at the same time on the same screen, speeding up diagnosis and improving accuracy, previously staff would have to switch between different systems.

The Eye Infirmary has several funds linked to various conditions, if you are interested in a particular condition please contact us and we will endeavour to ensure that your donation is spent in the field your request.

Haven Court is a purpose-built and innovatively designed facility which provides integrated health and social care services for our older residents, their carers and families across South Tyneside.

The state-of-the art facility brings together key health, social care and voluntary sector services, to improve the range, quality and co-ordination of care and support, especially for those with dementia, enabling  them to live independently in their community for longer.

Haven court largely uses its fund to support the provision of none clinical activities such as arts and crafts for its users, and to provide a programme of entertainment.

The Alexandra Centre acts as a centre of excellence to provide care for our patients with dementia and delirium and raise standards across the Trust by using an in reach/outreach service for cognitively frail in-patients. We also provide an outpatient follow up clinic for patients who have had delirium.

The centre largely uses its fund to support the provision of none clinical activities such as arts and crafts for its users, and to provide items such as nightwear for patients who come to the Sunderland Royal without anything to wear.

Sunderland Royal Hospital is recognised as a Cancer Unit and is part of the North of England Cancer Network. The Phoenix Unit is our Chemotherapy, Haematology and Infusion Day Unit, and is a hub for a range of settings for the provision of chemotherapy service - hospital, home and outreach - depending on a patient's preference and treatment type. The Phoenix unit fund is used to support the improvement of service through new state of the art equipment, specialist training and better patient facilities.

The Sunderland Kidney Unit has been has been operating since 1970. The main unit has over 20 haemodialysis stations and dialyses over 150 patients on a three shifts system. There is an associated satellite unit at Durham Treatment Centre dialysing 60 patients and a 40 patients dialysing at Washington Primary Care Centre, The Galleries.

Patients visit the units regularly and spend a lot of time using our services therefore we try to make them feel as comfortable as possible. The units charitable funds are regularly used to improve patient areas and facilities, with new furniture and entertainment systems. We also use charitable funds to invest in new more advanced treatment equipment.