Sunday, April 27, 2025

Charitable donation enables hospital patients to stay connected in an emergency

Hospital patients needing emergency care can now keep in touch with loved ones thanks to a charitable donation.

Mobile phone charge banks have been installed in the Emergency Departments at Lincoln, Boston and Grantham hospitals to enable patients and visitors to charge their mobile phones free of charge.

The United Lincolnshire Hospitals Charity funds the extras not provided by NHS budgets. Hearing that patients and their families often need to charge their mobile phones in the Emergency Departments, the charity agreed to fund the banks.

These are able to charge six devices at any time in safe and secure lockers.

The first patient to use the bank in the entrance to the Urgent Treatment Centre at Lincoln County Hospital was Shirley Churchill.

Shirley said: “I think this is a marvellous idea. It is absolutely fantastic. It will get a lot of use and make such a difference. It means that people can always stay charged and connected so that they can let everyone know what is going on.

“My phone battery was getting a bit low and so it was such a relief for me to be able to plug it in the locker, lock the door and return to the waiting area. It really is wonderful and takes away that added stress that you really do not need when you are here in an emergency.”

General Manager for Urgent and Emergency Care, Blanche Lentz, has been involved in the planning from the start. She said: “We know that coming to hospital at any time must be a worry, but particularly in an emergency. Being able to keep loved ones and family informed is so important.

“This is a massive donation by our charity, but I know that it will make such a difference to so many people like Shirley every single day and for many years to come. They were used more than 300 times across our three hospitals in the first few days.”

Lincoln Emergency Department Sister, Karen Kefallinos, added: “This is a really good idea as phone charging is something patients and their relatives often ask the staff about. We all have a phone these days and when you are coming here in an emergency you don’t have time to check how much charge you have. Unfortunately, some of our patients do experience long waits and it is so important that they are able to keep their loved ones informed.

“It also means relatives at home can speak directly to their loved one, rather than having to call the department for updates. It puts everyone’s minds at rest and enables the staff to continue providing care.

“We are so grateful to the charity for funding these banks.”

The banks have cost a total of £71,000, including maintenance and service charges for future years.

They are really easy for people to use. You simply find one of the empty lockers, plug in your phone and then shut the door, lock it and take the key with you.

Charity Manager, Ben Petts, said: “It is a really simple idea that will enable patients and their relatives to charge their phones free of charge in a safe and secure way.

“It is brilliant to see the banks being used straight away. It demonstrates the need is there and that they are going to make a real difference for our emergency patients and their loved ones.”

 

Picture shows Shirley Churchill using the new phone charge bank at Lincoln County Hospital. Image credit: United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our news site - please take a moment to read this important message:

As you know, our aim is to bring you, the reader, an editorially led news site and magazine but journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them.

With the Covid-19 pandemic having a major impact on our industry as a whole, the advertising revenues we normally receive, which helps us cover the cost of our journalists and this website, have been drastically affected.

As such we need your help. If you can support our news sites/magazines with either a small donation of even £1, or a subscription to our magazine, which costs just £27.55 per year, (inc p&P and mailed direct to your door) your generosity will help us weather the storm and continue in our quest to deliver quality journalism.

As a subscriber, you will have unlimited access to our web site and magazine. You'll also be offered VIP invitations to our events, preferential rates to all our awards and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Just click here to subscribe and in the meantime may I wish you the very best.

Advertisment












Latest posts

Burning Sensations unveil new cost-effective pellet stove

Burning Sensation Fireplaces are incredibly excited to unveil the latest addition to their showroom. With environmental concerns being high on consumer’s minds, introducing ‘Peggy’...

Truckfest drives into Lincoln for early May bank holiday

Car-crushing monster trucks, death-defying stunt shows, special celebrity guests, fantastic family entertainment, live music, delicious food and drink, a huge variety of trade stalls...

Lincolnshire local takes on Manchester marathon

Natalie Freeman is a 38-year-old mother of two young daughters and a son. She lives in Lincoln with her children and husband of ten...

Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance (LNAA) completes busiest March on record

LNAA were called to 153 emergencies in March 2025, compared to 123 in 2024 and 139 – the highest previously recorded – in 2023. The...

Freemasons buy £25,000 vehicles for volunteer blood bikers

Freemasons have given two new vehicles to Lincolnshire Emergency Blood Bikes Service to help sustain their voluntary work in ferrying urgent supplies and documents...

By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. more information

The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.

Close