This JustGiving page is just one place where we are collecting donations for Poppy's Fund, an official fund set up under Imperial Health Charity. This page shows the total for events where there isn’t a dedicated JustGiving page. There are many wonderful supporters raising money on their own pages as well as the hospitals raising money on site and through their fundraising channels. We will try and keep you updated on the total amount raised.

Thanks to your donations we are already making such a difference.  No donation is too small and we want to maintain the little and often principle that we strongly believe will be successful.  We will increase our target each time we reach the last one but please don't think we expect any one person or venture to achieve our current target.  We just want to have targets to aim for based on the current requirements of the Trust.

Whilst this fund was inspired by one experience, it is designed to benefit all parents and babies with the aim of helping families to take home happy, healthy babies.

For more information on the fund or to find out where your money is going, visit www.poppysfund.com 

Thank you so much for your support.

The Fund

Poppy's Fund is a charitable Fund set up under Imperial Health Charity to assist with the funding that is required for maternity services acrss Imperial Health Trust* (including St Mary's Paddington and Queen Charlotte's & Chelsea Hospital).  The Fund was set up following the stillbirth of Poppy Beatrice Hodgson, on the 17th October 2017.  An utterly devastating and life changing event for her parents Carly and Roo. The Fund aims to fundraise for various maternity departments and services and ensure all parents who use the services have a positive maternity experience whilst minimising risk. 

The Fund is led by a Committee, including medical professionals from Imperial Health Trust, Carly and Roo and representatives from Imperial Health Charity.  The responsibility of this committee is to allocate money raised, prioritise it according to requirements and via this fund all monies raised will go into maternity services.  

From Carly and Roo, ‘We, along with the help of our family and friends hope to raise as much money as possible in memory of our beautiful daughter and we want to do as much as possible to help other mums and dads.  There is no time limit to our fundraising as the fund has now been established as a key fund under Imperial Health Charity.  We will work with the Trust on an ongoing basis and through the Fund committee will support them as their requirements undoubtedly develop and evolve’.

If you have any questions or would like to hear exactly how your money can make a huge difference please get in touch with the committee at info@poppysfund.com 

Facts about stillbirth:

- A stillbirth is when a baby is born dead after 24 weeks of pregnancy.
- Approximately 1 in 200 births in the UK are stillbirths, we want to help reduce this number.

Items Poppy's Fund has bought so far:

Two mobile resuscitation units for premature babies allowing staff to perform life-saving treatment at the side of the delivery bed, allowing for delayed umbilical cord-clamping which is proven scientifically to improve outcomes for the baby.  Previously, babies would have had to have been rushed to specialist units for immediate treatment, so these trolleys also mean the baby is able to stay with the mum for longer ensuring less trauma and distress for both mother and baby, caused by whisking the baby away immediately after birth.

Respiratory support device providing non-invasive respiratory support which allows early intervention for those mothers who are acutely unwell during pregnancy and after birth.  this avoids transfer to intensive care keeping mother and baby together.

Jaundice Testing Equipment for use by midwives in the community. This equipment can be used on postnatal home visits and will ensure that babies suspected of having jaundice can be tested at home, saving a precautionary trip back into hospital for many parents and babies who are subsequently found not to have it.

Reclining bed chairs to enable partners to be able to stay overnight with mums who need to be in hospital for longer periods of time due to complications.  It is important to help families to stay together to reduce stress and distress at this emotional time.

Staff training - Additional training opportunities to those who may not automatically receive training on various subjects but encounter them often.  This includes tongue-tie training, waterbirth training and communication training days.  This particular training helped staff to learn to communicate effectively with patients and included training in communicating bad news or how to deal with patients who have recently received bad news.

Birthing couches and other items to assist with birth - adaptable beds that can help enable mums to be a comfortable as they can be when giving birth, birthing balls, mats and stools.

Breastpumps to support early feeding and help mums establish a milk supply both in the case of healthy babies and those in neonatal care where the mother needs to keep her milk supply going.

Artwork for the bereavement rooms in the hospitals to improve the environment for families using the spaces.

Furniture for the roof terrace providing staff and patients with the space to relax and get outside during a shift or staff.  The roof terrace provides the only outdoor space at QCCH for staff to access during a shift and this has been proven to be effective at reduce mental health stresses.

A few of the items we'd like to raise money for:

CuddleCots - a cold cot that enables parents to spend more time with their baby by keeping the baby cool and preventing the body from deteriorating.  The added time it can give parents can have a significant impact on the psychological impact of stillbirth.  These cots require maintenance and sometimes replacing.

Bereavement training - sadly the bereavement midwives appear to be some of the busiest people in the department.  There is a desire to train more junior midwives in this area and we would love to help equip people with the skills to help patients who need it.

Counselling - the Trust has a counselling charity for bereaved parents and for us and many others it is literally a lifeline.  The counselling arm of the charity is in desperate need of funding to the extent where a Consultant we were lucky enough to have got to know funded it herself for 6 months, such was the need for funding and her belief it was crucial.  To keep the charity running for six months costs approximately £10,000

Many other items, large and small (all to be agreed in the coming weeks and prioritised via the Fund committee). Thanks for taking the time to visit our JustGiving page.

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Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure.  Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails.  Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity.  So, it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

* The Trust consists of Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea, St Mary's, Charing Cross, Hammersmith and Western Eye Hospital.