Outreach Radio joins Friends of PICU on Saturday 23rd September at the Cleveland Bay Pub in Chandler’s Ford
Outreach Radio will be joining Friends of PICU on Saturday 23rd September 2023 from 12-4pm and broadcasting live from the Cleveland Bay Pub in Chandler’s Ford for a fantastic afternoon of fun, stalls, games, children’s entertainers, raffle, bouncy castle, music, food, drink and so much more!
PICU is the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, the leading centre for paediatric intensive care in South Central England. Their 14 bed purpose built unit cares for children from birth up to 18 years of age.
They care for patients with some of the most complex illnesses and injuries and work closely with specialists from all surgical and medical areas.
The unit, which looks after 950 to 1,000 patients per year from across southern and central England, is the sixth largest PICU in the UK by number of admissions and has one of the best survival rates. Operating a 24-hour retrieval service, children are referred from hospitals as far afield as Plymouth, Milton Keynes and the Channel Islands.
The team also provides medical and nursing training and has close links with the University of Southampton. They are actively involved in research and have made significant contributions to all the large national and international collaborative PICU studies.
Fundraising for PICU
There are two main ways you can support Southampton PICU:
Friends of PICU
You may wish to support the Friends of PICU (registered charity number 1116880), a charity that is run by volunteers who have all had, or known, a child who has been cared for on PICU.
The Friends of PICU exists to raise money to support the unit, children and their families by providing equipment and services that are not always provided by the statutory authorities. Recent projects have included providing new specialist cots, ventilators and art and craft materials to desensitize the medical environment where possible. They have also supported a major project expanding the PICU by adding two new bed spaces, with a longer term project to refurbish the PICU family accommodation.
Another key ongoing project is fundraising to update the dedicated PICU specialist retrievals ambulance. The charity is very proud to have donated the full cost for the last four ambulances, which provide a key part of the PICU service, collecting and returning children from across the South of England and the hospitals supported by the PICU.
Your support will help to make a real difference to the PICU, the children and their families and the amazing service provided by the NHS.
If you would like more information about the Friends of PICU please contact them via the Friends of PICU website or email info@friendsofpicu.org.uk.
You can also call 077 5737 3513 or search for Friends of PICU on social media.
Southampton Hospital Charity PICU fund
Alternatively you can make a donation to PICU via the main Southampton Hospital Charity, and choose between donating to the general fund that benefits all hospital services, or the special PICU account that is only spent on PICU services.