Employer details: Medequip4kids

About Medequip4kids

MedEquip4Kids was founded in 1985 by the parents of a baby girl suffering from meningitis and nursed back to health at Booth Hall Children's Hospital. Her parents were keen to show their gratitude to the Manchester hospital and established the Bobby Bear Appeal fundraising for the Intensive Care Unit.

After raising more than £1million, the charity expanded to cover Pendlebury Children's Hospital followed by the whole of Greater Manchester renamed as the Children's Hospitals Appeal Trust, or CHAT. In 2004, the charity became MedEquip4Kids to avoid confusion with the New Children's Hospital Appeal being set up in Manchester.

MedEquip4Kids now works with medical staff, play therapists, community nurses, the ambulance service and other registered charities to provide equipment and improve the environment in hospitals across the North West. Our policy is to fund items known to improve the care provided to children but not readily available with the NHS's limited budgets.

MedEquip4Kids provides a unique service in the North West fundraising on behalf of the wards and units of local hospitals. Increasingly, the larger hospitals employ professional fundraisers to secure those extras the NHS cannot fund but smaller hospitals, community teams and the ambulance service do not have access to a fundraising officer. It is common to find nurses and paramedics fundraising in their spare time and during their working day.

MedEquip4Kids believe these vital front-line staff should be focusing on caring for children and the charity's aim is to fundraise on their behalf. The money raised is spent directly on the items they request and no money is passed on to any third party.