£100,000 has been given to 34 hospital departments and community services at North Bristol NHS Trust in a charitable Christmas advent countdown.

Shine together, the charity supporting Frenchay and Southmead Hospitals and community health services, gave £100,000 to departments, wards and services across the Trust to spend on equipment.

Between December 1 and 23 the Shine together Christmas Crackers awards announced gifts of up to £5,000 on each weekday with a bumper gift of up more than £16,000 handed out on the December 23 finale. 

Staff were asked in November to put forward applications for the prize fund for the purchase of medical equipment to support and improve the experience of patients.

A judging panel made up of clinical and non clinical staff from across the Trust considered the 200 applications and allotted prize money to 34 projects.

The first funds were awarded on December 1 in a surprise visit to wards by local TV personality Alex Lovell.

Each day in the run up to the big giveaway on December 23, winners were announced on the Shine together website advent calendar www.shinetogether.org.uk/crackers .

Shine together’s head of fundraising Trevor Reid said: “Shine together has had yet another fantastic year thanks to the generosity of the public who have donated or taken part in fundraising for us.

“We decided that the best way to spend some of that money was by asking the staff themselves what they think would benefit patients the most.

“Nominations for prize money have had to assure judges that the equipment can be transferred to the new hospital at Southmead when it opens in 2014, so this is a real legacy from Shine together to our hard-working staff.”

Here is a list of our 34 winners:
£3,336 to Gastroenterology for a Digimed Patency Scanner
During capsule endoscopy, there is a risk of the small capsule containing the camera becoming stuck in at least 10% of cases. The hand held scanner would help to track a “dummy” gelatin capsule in the gut to see if it gets stuck. The test is radiation and pain free, requiring no sedation, and can be administered by a doctor or nurse to give immediate results.

£2,031 to Gastroenterology for Hydrolyser gastro+ breath tester plus
This scanner provides an instant, non-invasive, sensitive and specific way of diagnosing problems where gastroenterology patients are suffering from difficult symptoms of diarrhoea, weight loss, bloating and nutritional malabsorption. This in turn leads to specific treatment that can resolve debilitating life long symptoms usually through a simple course of antibiotics or dietary therapy.

£4,300 to Community Children's Physiotherapy Services for additional therapy equipment.
Equipment for use during therapy sessions and for home loan to pre-school children with disability in South Gloucestershire. This will promote gains in motor skills and enable parents to carry out daily therapy.
 
£3,000 to the Discharge Lounges for two recliner chairs for patients who need to recline prior to discharge.
Some patients waiting for long periods of time in a Discharge Lounge need to recline.

£724 to Southmead Cardiac Care for 24 hour cardiac monitoring tapes

£2,200 to the Adult Burns Unit at Frenchay for two Blood Pressure Monitors and six Genius Thermometers

£1,400 to Gynaecology at Southmead for a special bariatric couch

£340 to NICU Community Women's Health for resuscitation manikins to teach resuscitation to the parents of premature babies.

£94 to NICU Community Women's Health for a length mat as part of the ongoing care in the community, babies’ length must be monitored on a regular basis to provide a good indication of growth that will benefit staff, parents and babies alike.

£5,000 to the Lung Function Unit at Southmead Hospital for a Porti 7 sleep diagnostics system
To be used by patients to diagnose complex sleep problems, and will enable sleep studies to be done at home instead of the hospital.

£5,720 to Portering Services at Southmead Hospital for a Bariatric Chair/Trolley
For the patient this will increase dignity and safety, and for the porters this will minimise health and safety risks. For the clinicians this will improve the flexibility to examine patients due to a lateral transfer bar system, which allows safe, confident and dignified transfer of the patient to and from almost any hospital bed, trolley or examination table.

£5,720 to Portering Services at Frenchay Hospital for a Bariatric Chair/Trolley

£1,000 to the East Central School Nurses Enuresis Service, part of NBT’s Community Services, for eight Enuresis bedside alarms for children aged between four and 18.

£3,300 to Malvern Ward, Southmead Hospital, Care of the Elderly for Camel Air Lift Cushion and Reminiscence Pod to assist patients who have fallen and have difficulty in getting up.
 
£511 to General X-Ray for a larger wheelchair.

£3,000 to Endoscopy at Southmead Hospital for 20 Vinyl Chairs including four bariatric ones

£1,680 to Community Midwifery for 12 Portable Home Birth Pools.
This will promote women’s choice for using water in the home environment.

£900 to Renal at Southmead Hospital for six cushions and three pairs of Repose Boots
This equipment will improve the care and rehabilitation for long stay patients, and will help to prevent the development of pressure sores.

£1,000 to Elgar Ward 3 at Southmead Hospital for four pairs of Repose Boots to reduce the risk of pressure damage to the heels of elderly patients.

£5,000 to ATO Radiology, Frenchay Hospital, for a Scoliosis Chair
Our most physically disabled patients for Scoliosis imaging will benefit from this as they will be safe, secure and in a position to achieve optimal imaging.

£1,000 to Neurosurgery, Frenchay Hospital, for a Vitalograph machine to enable lung function tests to be performed on the ward rather than patients having to make a trip to the Lung Function Unit.

£5,000 to the Manual Handling and Physiotherapy Department at Southmead Hospital for Specialist Amputee Slings.

£2,000 to Disablement Services Centre at Southmead Hospital for a Southampton Hand Assessment Procedure

£300 to School health and community services for a "Dummy Bottom" for rectal medication training

£3,900 to Nuclear Medicine, Radiology, Southmead Hospital, for an imaging chair to enable optimum quality diagnostic images to be obtained with greater comfort and safety for patients.
 
£300 to Elderly medicine, Frenchay Hospital, for four Sarabec Crescendo Communicators

£2,025 to Occupational Therapy Burns Team, Frenchay Hospital, Upper Extremity Workstation to enable the rehabilitation of patients with burn injuries to be more accessible.

£5,000 to Physiotherapy, Frenchay Hospital, Sertain Chair with built in pressure relief to enable critically ill patients to sit out of bed. It will particularly benefit patients who have sustained severe trauma, spinal or brain injury or burns.

£2,112 to Radiology at Southmead Hospital for two standing aids to help patients from a wheelchair to an x-ray table or to standing.

£3,758 to Respiratory Medicine at Southmead Hospital for two chairs for pressure relief

£1,454 to Outpatients at Southmead Hospital for two dermatoscopes for use in diagnosis of suspected skin cancers.

£1,000 to Occupational Therapy at Frenchay Hospital for specialist pressure relieving cushions

£5,000 to the Tissue Viability team at Southmead Hospital to increase volume of aids to assist pressure area care.

£16,800 for Anaesthetics at Southmead Hospital for an ultrasound guided nerve blocks machine.
This machine would benefit patients by improving pain relief after surgery with the use of ultrasound guided nerve blocks, and allow quicker and less painful spinals and epidurals. Other benefits of the machine include safer insertion of chest drains, and of central venous and arterial lines. More patients would be able to be day-case and get home on the day of surgery.