Lloyds Community Fund have awarded Children’s Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) with a £5k donation towards life-saving equipment for the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit (LCHU).
Yorkshire Evening Post
By Joanna Wardill
Sunday, 10th October 2021
Lloyd’s Community Fund has donated £5k towards a life-saving machine for the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit, through the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund.
The donation has helped to fund a new Radiofrequency Puncture Generator, enabling clinicians to provide the best possible treatment during complex heart procedures.
Some procedures require clinicians to undertake controlled tissue punctures using radiofrequency energy, with minimal surrounding damage.
Clinicians within the LCHU’s hybrid theatre will use the new machine around 15-30 times each year during emergency or acute procedures on neonatal babies. However, it has multiple uses and can be used for different treatments on patients of all ages.
Catherine Rutter, Lloyds Banking Group’s Ambassador for Yorkshire and The Humber said:
We remain committed to supporting local communities and the Community Fund is helping us achieve just that.
Through a giant bidding process our colleagues applied for funding to support causes that they care about the most and this year 9,000 regional colleagues selected their top bids resulting in £113,000 being awarded to 29 organisations across Yorkshire and The Humber.
I’m extremely pleased that the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund will benefit from the be funding. Supporting smaller causes in this way means that it will have a positive impact, not only in the organisation, but also the communities they serve.
Hybrid theatre nurse Filipa Ferreira with the new machine
It is expected that hundreds of babies will benefit from the radiofrequency machine over the coming years. It will:
- enhance the treatment and procedures that can be undertaken in the children’s heart theatre, and ensure clinicians are working with the most advanced equipment;
- help to improve care and outcomes for babies and children with congenital heart disease in Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire; and
- strengthen the profile of the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit as a world-class centre of excellence for treatment of patients with congenital heart disease.
Dr Jamie Bentham, Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist said:
This Radiofrequency Puncture Generator will be a great asset to the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit. We will use it during keyhole surgery to make a 0.3mm hole in a baby’s blocked heart valve, allowing us to then cross the valve and open it with a balloon.
I believe that it will complement the state-of-the-art equipment we currently use in patient treatment and help to make a significant difference to the quality of care and outcomes we can provide for young patients with serious heart defects.
And Sharon Milner, CEO of CHSF added:
We are very grateful to Lloyds Community Fund for their amazing donation, which has enabled us to purchase this trail-blazing machine for the hybrid children’s theatre.
Life-saving equipment like this plays an essential part in maintaining the Leeds Congenital Heart Unit’s status as a world-class centre of excellence.
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