Press release
Wednesday 21 July 2010
FUNDRAISING PARTNERSHIP TO
HELP CRITICALLY ILL
GAINS ROYAL
APPROVAL
Her Royal
Highness The Princess Royal yesterday, 20 July, launched a new
fundraising partnership between
The London Clinic and the Intensive Care Foundation.
The partnership will for the first time enable patients and
their relatives to directly raise funds for vital research into
Intensive Care Medicine.
Right photograph: Michael Abrahams CBE
DL, Chairman of
The London Clinic presents a posy to HRH The
Princess Royal
More than 120,000 patients are treated in more than 300
intensive care units throughout the UK every year, but sadly
approximately 30% of those patients will not survive*. This
new initiative will help ensure the Foundation can fulfil its key
aims of supporting and facilitating research in order to:
- - Reduce the mortality rate of critically ill patients
- - Improve the current recovery process from critical
illnesses
At the launch of the partnership last night, The Princess Royal
was joined by key medical professionals and representatives from
the Foundation and The London Clinic, in addition to patients who
have directly benefited from the expertise of the Clinic's
Intensive Care Unit. Lady Getty, widow of Sir John Paul Getty, has
agreed to become Chairman of the fundraising committee, which will
begin by organising a variety of social and networking events in
the coming months.
Dr John
Goldstone, Director of The London Clinic's Intensive Care Unit,
says: "This is the start of a very exciting project which will
enable patients and their relatives to help support vital research
projects, while also helping to raise the profile of Intensive Care
Medicine.
"The Intensive Care Foundation performs outstanding, large-scale
trials in the UK. This research enables intensive care units up and
down the country to provide patients with the most comprehensive
and highly specialist care available, giving them the best possible
chances of survival.
Above photograph: Dr John Goldstone and HRH
The Princess Royal
"As well as raising funds, we hope that local patient groups
will develop to provide additional 'self help' for patients who
have survived a major illness. It can take time for patients to
come to terms with such a life-changing experience and they need
strategies and support to help them cope."
Dr Saxon Ridley, from the Intensive Care Foundation, adds:
"Patients feel a tremendous amount of goodwill when they leave
intensive care units, and yet this is the first time the Intensive
Care Foundation has looked to them for support. We hope the
initiative will prove beneficial to everyone involved and enable
the Foundation to continue its vital work."
The Princess Royal has been Patron of the Intensive Care Society
since 1987. The Foundation is the research arm of the Intensive
Care Society.
For those members of the public wishing to make a donation,
please contact Amanda Hallums, Matron/Director of Clinical Services
on 020 7616 7748.
ENDS
For more press information, please contact Jo Gulliver
or Tracey Thompson on 020 8786 3860 or email pressoffice@thelondonclinic.co.uk
Notes to Editors:
* Cost effectiveness of adult intensive care in the UK,
Anaethesia, 2007
The London Clinic
- - The London Clinic is the UK's largest
independently-owned non-profit hospital
- - 271 patient rooms and 12 operating theatres including
dedicated endoscopy suites and a day surgery unit
- - 24 hour consultant-led Intensive Care Unit with 11
beds
- - As a registered charity and not-for-profit
organisation, The London Clinic is able to continuously reinvest in
the latest medical technology, facilities and clinical and nursing
support
- - Highly complex procedures in addition to routine surgery and
medicine such as live donor liver and kidney transplants
- - Located on Harley Street in the heart of London's medical
community
- - Long-standing international reputation attracting leading
consultants for over 77 years
The Intensive Care Society
- - The Intensive Care Society is the oldest critical care
society in the world and represents all professionals working to
deliver a top quality critical care service. Membership currently
stands at over 2,500 members, whose aim is to improve patient care
primarily through education and research
- - The Intensive Care Foundation is the research arm of the
Intensive Care Society and was founded in 2003
- - To date, The Foundation has contributed £500,000 to
pilot cutting-edge clinical trials. The success of these trials has
led to a further £5,000,000 from mainstream sources of funding into
healthcare research
- * The Foundation is running the world's largest registry of
patients' functional status and quality of life after critical
illness treated on intensive care units (the ICON Study)