The Friends of Bexhill, Conquest and Eastbourne Hospitals have donated eight ventilators to the home ventilation service, to help people with chronic respiratory failure, in their own homes.
The home ventilation service helps patients to stay at home and avoid admission into hospital. The donated ventilators are small and used at the bed side to help control a patients breathing, allowing for a better quality of life. They can also be used to help some patients leave hospital earlier and return home.
Georgie Luxford, Senior Specialist Respiratory Practitioner, demonstrating a ventilator on Richard Wray with Bill Hamilton from Friends of Conquest Hospital
Georgie Luxford, Senior Specialist Respiratory Practitioner and Home NIV lead nurse said: “We are so grateful for this kind donation by all the Friends. These small machines are used in people’s homes helping to prevent unnecessary admission into hospital or by helping them return home from hospital earlier. Because of this donation, these new machines will help many very disabled or dying patients to continue to be treated locally, instead of needing to travel backwards and forwards to London for treatment, or even worse, refusing ongoing treatment in order to avoid a prolonged and often uncomfortable travel.”
Patients who develop chronic respiratory failure (type 2) will either be at end stage Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), morbidly obesity, have severe sleep apnoea, motor neurone disease, muscular dystrophy, neuromuscular weakness or chest wall deformity.