Member Article

Northumberland companies see an opportunity to help

Generous Prudhoe businesses have joined forces to raise money for Tynesight – a charitable fund supporting the work of one of the largest hospital eye departments in the UK.

The Newcastle Eye Centre is based at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and carries out pioneering research as well as offering high-quality treatment and patient care.

Tissue manufacturer SCA raised £1000 for Tynesight by donating thousands of pocket packs of paper tissues – that were then given to staff at the mill, and in neighbouring businesses, in return for a donation. Tissues have also been donated to the hospital for patient use.

Brainchild of SCA employee Paul Macfaden, the fundraising effort came about after he was treated at the RVI for a detached retina.

“The experience taught me how much we take good eyesight for granted, and had it not been for the expertise of the team at Newcastle Eye Centre I could potentially have lost all of the vision in my right eye,” he said.

“When I experienced for myself the excellent care given to patients at the centre, I was keen to do something to help and am grateful to my employer SCA for its generosity.”

A number of other Tyne Valley businesses including demolition company Thompson’s of Prudhoe, DHL and engineering supply chain specialist GMS also got involved and helped boost the amount of money raised through the tissue sale.

Pauline Buglass, head of fundraising at Newcastle Hospitals added: “We are so very grateful for SCA’s kind support of Paul Macfaden’s fundraising efforts on behalf of Tynesight.

“We rely on the generosity and support of local businesses and ordinary people like Paul, whose donations and fundraising have enabled us to provide some really pioneering equipment and services to benefit our patients right here in Newcastle.

“New technologies and treatments are coming on stream all the time, and this is precisely what charitable funding is all about in the health service. It means our talented doctors can have world-class facilities to match their world-class expertise.

“When people donate to any of our hospital charitable funds they are helping us to buy the most up-to-date equipment much faster than would otherwise be possible with NHS funding alone. It means that here in Newcastle, we can be ahead of the game thanks to the generosity of our North East community.”

For more information about Tynesight, contact the Charitable Funds Office at the RVI, 0191 213 7235 or charity.matters@nuth.nhs.uk

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