A charity that helped people with respiratory disease for more than 20 years has generously donated almost £15,000 to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital (RBH) before disbanding for good.
Ann and Rob Maskell set up the Dorset Respiratory Group in 1992, gaining more than 500 members in the charity’s early years. However due to recent dwindling numbers, the pair have disbanded the group and donated their last cheques to the thoracic medicine departments at RBH and Poole Hospital.
Ann and Rob visited the Thoracic Medicine Department at RBH to hand over the money, which will be spent on a new ultrasound machine.
Dr Diane Laws, Thoracic Medicine Consultant at RBH, expressed her thanks for the donation and said the machine would improve patient care and the efficiency of the department. She explained, “patients undergoing investigations for fluid around their lungs often have to undergo a procedure where we remove some of the fluid by putting a needle into it. To improve success rate and safety, an ultrasound is used to direct the operator. Often the patients needed to be admitted to hospital for the procedure.
“The purchase of an ultrasound machine will enable us to more frequently carry this out as an outpatient procedure, reduce the waiting time for the procedure and improve effectiveness and safety.”
