The League of Friends: A concise history

One of the key challenges of the post war years was the need to repair, and the most notable area under  scrutiny was health. The provision of health services to that point had been by the network of voluntary hospitals, which the war had put under severe strain. The creation of the NHS, and the challenge it made to that culture of local responsibility did not sit comfortably with the Leagues of Friends.

None the less it soon became clear that the Leagues of Friends were still very much in demand, and with the recommendation of the British Hospital Association, to set up Leagues of Friends or similar organisations centred at individual hospitals, a conference to which 175 league of friends groups were invited was held on 24th March 1949 and the National Association of Leagues of Hospital Friends (N.A.L.H.F.) was formed. The main purpose was made clear by the following objective proposed at a  meeting on the 5th of May 1949 by a certain Captain J.W. Price:

“To mobilise, encourage, foster and maintain, the human love of the people of this Country, in the giving service to supplement the healing work of the staff and the State, and always ensure a humanising  supplement to the work of the hospitals”

Over 60 years have passed and the Leagues of Friends still remain true to their purpose, as the  mobilisation of love in communities remains core to their activities.

How we support The Deal Victoria Memorial Hospital

From the funds we raise and thanks to your generosity, we have been able to buy much needed equipment for the hospital. Apart from our regular expenditure on the items shown below, we have been able to supply the items listed in the following tables.

Opening the xray unit Deal Hospital
Opening the new X-ray unit, Jan 2019
Opening the Wound Centre at Deal Victoria Hospital March 2017

Regular annual expenditure is made on the following items:

Subscriptions Courtyard garden maintenance
Nurses courses Patient Christmas presents & festivities
Reference Books Slippers for patients
Chilled water throughout the hospital Fish tank maintenance
Newspapers for patients …and more!

Supporting Expenditure in 2017

Our total expenditure in 2017 on equipment and support activities was £33,906 including:

Wound care centre 11,001
 Hoists, Screens & thermometers  8,048
 Ward room TVs  6,664
Nurses rest break benches  1,188
 MIU teak benches  656
COPD Booklets  650
 Trolleys  577
Finger Pulsometers, electric scales  417

Supporting Expenditure in 2016

Our total expenditure in 2016 on equipment and support activities was £48,586 (inc £7,194 regular) including:

Pico diagnostic ENT microscope 9,454
Tympanometer 8,000
Audiometer 6,250
Rehabilitation chairs 3,798
Tympanic thermometers x 32 3,711
Portering chairs 2,933
Vital signs devices 1,510
Fitness cycle 1,500
Drop arm chairs 1,436
Puls oxymeters x 8 1,119
Keeler Practitioner rechargeable desk set 600
Rehabilitation games equipment 488
Hospital flagpole 335
Bariatric chair 139
Nurses fridge 119