Welcome
to the League of Friends of Sevenoaks Hospital
Newsflash – Christmas cards are now on sale in the tea room priced £3.25 a pack of 10
For pictures of the designs of our cheerful and colourful cards see Seasonal Focus
Cards are also available from local shops including:- Francis Jones Jewellers, 64 High St, Sevenoaks, TN13 1JR and Shoreham Village Stores, 35 High St, Shoreham, Kent, TN14 7TB and Londis West End Convenience Store, 19 West End, Kemsing, TN15 6PX
Annual General report and recent information
Our Annual General Meeting was held on June 20 with refreshments including hot drinks served in the tea room.
The Chairman's report is below giving details of activities during 2023 and the first part of 2024. We were pleased to welcome the Deputy Chairman of the District Council Cllr Linda Harrison, the Town Mayor Cllr Libby Ancrum, and Chief Executive Officer Kent Community Health Foundation Trust (KCHFT) Mairead McCormick.
Mairead explained about the difficult decision made to close the hospital's in-patient beds because of concerns following a fire safety audit of evacuation on the first floor.
We have now received more up to date information about this so please follow the link to https://www.kentcht.nhs.uk/community-health-online/changes-to-services-at-sevenoaks-hospital/
Chairman's report Minutes 2023 Agenda
Garden delights hospital users
The Hospital garden outside the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) is proving very colourful this summer!
Friends' newsletter highlights recent work
Here is our most recent newsletter which gives details of our invaluable work. We hope you enjoy reading it.
It's also that time of year when we request subscriptions and donations! We can now accept them by sending a secure link to your mobile phone enabling donations to be made by card payment. If you would like to donate in this way please email info@lofosh.org.uk
for details. If at all possible please consider making a ‘Gift Aid’ donation. You can download a Gift Aid form here Gift Aid Form Otherwise donations should be sent by cheque to; The League of Friends of Sevenoaks Hospital, Hospital Road, Sevenoaks, TN13 3PG.
Tearoom goes from strength to strength
The tea room at Sevenoaks Hospital continues as the main focus and fund raiser for the League of Friends enabling us to provide little extras to benefit patients and staff. Do come along if you are visiting the hospital or nearby and enjoy our selection of refreshments in this warm and cosy place.
You will find a variety hot and cold drinks including various types of tea, coffee, cappuccino, sandwiches, sausage rolls, packet soup and cold drinks. Cup cakes prove ever popular....Snacks include healthy options, croissants, chocolate, and old favourites such as bakewell tart and eccles cakes. Our volunteers have undertaken food hygiene training and the café has been awarded a five star rating. You can also enjoy a friendly chat when you come to see us in the outpatients building or are visiting the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC) or the ward.
There's a wide selection of second-hand books as well which are always extremely popular. We also sell some good quality greetings cards and wrapping paper. Christmas cards in ten colourful were again in demand during the festive season. Our hot drinks machine continues to provide a valuable service in the main building as does the vending machine with drinks and snacks again with healthy options.
To help younger people we are in the process of providing blood testing equipment (a Transcutaneous Bilirubinometer) for midwives to check if babies have jaundice. We are also giving distraction boxes for children in waiting room in the UTC with wipe clean drawing equipment and toys. The idea is to keep junior patients and toddlers busy while waiting to be seen making life easier of youngsters and parents alike.
We continue to support major projects and provide plants for the garden and have given a DVD player for the emporium we helped refurbish to assist dementia patients.
You can find out more about our work by visiting www.lofosh.org.uk and donations are always gratefully received. For more details email info@lofosh.org.uk
Thank you to everyone who bought or sold our our colourful range of Christmas cards. They were available in our cafeteria at Sevenoaks Hospital outpatients and other local outlets. To find out more you can download this PDF and you can see colourful pictures of each of the 10 pictures on our Seasonal focus page.
Friends continue good work at Sevenoaks Hospital now as then
Sevenoaks Hospital has been an important feature of the town for well over a century. After our 2024 Annual General Meeting this summer it is interesting to also reflect on historical reports from earlier days. Then subscribers provided basic supplies plus extras for patient comfort such as books and magazines and today we continue to supply daily newspapers for the ward which are very popular.
Second-hand books are on sale at a very reasonable price in our ever-popular tea room. All beds on the ward and waiting room areas in both the main and day hospital have been provided with televisions by the Friends which are free to use.
In 1904, as always Hospital funds were stretched. But the annual report explains patients remained paramount: “It is a satisfaction to the committee that the Friends have not failed them”, it explains. Annual subscriptions and donations were generously boosted by a Pastoral Play in Knole Park and “this novel and interesting entertainment greatly delighted a large number of spectators”. The numbers of patients treated had increased as had the complexity of cases.
Patient numbers had continued to rise 10 years later but the committee noted a falling off of subscriptions and donations “which can fairly be attributed to the War”. However good housekeeping prevailed: “It is only owing to the very great care and economy exercised.… the very high standard of comfort has been maintained”. Funds were boosted by entertainments, church collections and parades and a Pound Day resulting in “900 lbs weight of necessaries....a very welcome addition to the hospital stores”.
The committee recorded “great appreciation” of the work of the matron and nurses “who have carried out their work with entire satisfaction”. Many discharged patients kindly gave fruit, flowers and new laid eggs.
* See the picture above from 70 years ago and note the old fashioned vehicles in spartan numbers. Also how much the garden has come on of late to become a peaceful oasis for patients and visitors!
We also recommend you read our interesting historical piece about what was happening in the hospital over 90 years ago in 1913. Very different times but some of the same messages!