Every young UK cancer patient spending this Christmas in hospital can look forward to receiving some very special gifts.
Playing Santa for the eighth year, The Laura Crane Cancer Trust will ensure that no 13-24-year old sufferer on a ward is forgotten.
And the 2014 effort will be the biggest yet with 500 presents set to be delivered, including gift boxes to the youth cancer unit at Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Exeter.
Volunteers for the small national charity based in Huddersfield will choose, buy and wrap gifts, then send them to 39 hospitals across the...
Innovative projects in Devon and Cornwall will receive a share of a £2.5m fund to help change patients’ lives and improve care through innovation.
A total of eight projects in the area were announced as winners of the NHS England’s Regional Innovation Fund which was launched in April to support and promote the adoption and spread of innovation across the NHS. It provides opportunities for clinicians to work in new ways driving innovation which can change patients’ lives.
Organisations could apply for sums up to £50,000 for individual applications and up to £250,000 for...
Physiotherapists at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Heavitree have raised over £200 for Hospiscare by holding their ‘Big Devon Bake Off’.
Inspired by their love of cake, the department pulled out all the stops to host a baking competition for the charity’s September event, presenting an impressive range of baked confections for judges Liz Jacobs and Jane Middleton.
Everything from lemon drizzle to apple strudel was put forward by staff in the hope of claiming the converted ‘star baker’ title. In the end, it proved impossible to choose between two bakes, with a tie...
Optometrist Kieran Loft, from the Royal Devon and Exeter’s West of England Eye Unit (WEEU), is on the lookout for your old spectacles.
In January 2015, Kieran will be going on an aid mission with local charity the Plymouth-Bissary Aid Project to perform eye tests and distribute glasses to people in a remote part of the Gambia.
Kieran is asking for old or unneeded glasses to be donated at the reception desk of West of England Eye Unit, just near the main entrance to the Wonford hospital, before they are shipped out to West Africa in November.
Thirty-six pupils from schools across Exeter visited the RD&E for their Work Observation Week to make a first step towards their future career.
The annual programme gives young people in Year 10 and above the chance to find out how the RD&E works and to consider the many different jobs the NHS has to offer.
A highlight of the programme was the ‘mock ward’ exercise in the RILD Clinical Skills rooms, which gave pupils the opportunity to experience how a real-life ward is run. By acting out the roles of doctors, physios, OT, nurses and housekeepers alongside RD&E...
The Exeter Leukaemia Fund (ELF) has invested £30,000 to help realise the idea of building a family room for Haematology patients at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital.
The local charity has invested the funds to develop and plan out the reworking of space in the Haematology Centre to accommodate an area where critically ill patients can enjoy time and privacy with their families. The family room will bring all the comforts of home, but also allows quick access to hospital facilities and expert healthcare professionals when required. The proposed space will provide a holistic room...
Children and young people who are having oncology treatment on Bramble ward at the Royal Devon and Exeter hospital can now enjoy two newly refurbished rooms thanks to Dawlish charity Richard’s Wish.
Richard’s Wish was set up in memory of seventeen year old Richard Cridge, who had oncology treatment for Ewings Sarcoma on Bramble ward before he passed away in 2008.
The refurbished rooms, which have been designed with teenagers and young people in mind, were recently opened by Richard’s parents, Jo and Dave Cridge, along with representatives from the charity and the Exeter...
Exeter Chiefs may be gearing up for a busy festive period of fixtures, but on Thursday members of the first-team squad took a morning out to pay a special visit to the Bramble Children’s Unit at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital.
Players Dean Mumm, Tom Johnson, Brett Sturgess, Jack Yeandle, James Hanks, Jason Shoemark, Carl Rimmer, Hoani Tui and Chris Whitehead took on the role of Santa Claus for one very special day and made their annual visit to the local hospital to spend time with youngsters who are facing up to the prospect of remaining on the wards for Christmas and...
Police are appealing for witnesses after three vehicles were involved in a road traffic collision on Saturday 16 March near Newton Poppleford. The collision happened at around 3.30pm on the A3052, one mile west of Newton Poppleford, near Sidmouth. Fire and ambulance crews attended the collision which involved a Suzuki Wagon, an Audi A3 and an Audi A4. The female driver of the Suzuki, from Exeter, was airlifted to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital with serious back and leg injuries. An elderly man travelling in one of the other vehicles sustained a head injury which was not serious....
UNISON, the UK's largest public service union - which represents more than 1.3 million people providing vital services to the public - is ratcheting up its campaign against the consortium of 20 NHS trusts in the South West. The group of trusts, referred to as a “pay cartel” by unions, has announced plans to break away from Agenda for Change and reduce workers’ pay, terms and conditions in a move which could affect around 88,000 NHS staff, including nurses and doctors.
The union is planning lobbies, rallies and demonstrations, inlcuding outside the Royal Devon & Exeter...
