Southport - the Classic Resort on England's North West Coast

2009

District

105BN

IT Award

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Syringe Drivers 2006
27th September 2006 - Southport Lions donate £5,000 for Syringe Drivers

 

If we have to take medication of any sort, we usually find it comes as an injection or in the form of a pill. Not very pleasant, but it's usually over with pretty quickly. However, there are a number of patients for whom these are not practical methods. Perhaps they are unable to take anything by mouth. Or perhaps, as with pain relief,  large doses at extended intervals are not appropriate - pain is constant, and ideally so should be the delivery of the relief.

 

These problems are overcome by the use of Syringe Drivers, small electrical pumps which move the plunger of a syringe at a steady, measured, rate to deliver the medication subcutaneously. Syringe Drivers are found throughout the health care system: the General Hospital, private hospitals, hospices and nursing homes.

A decision has been made to replace the range of Syringe Drivers currently in use with one standardised type. This new type is smaller, lighter, more robust and more secure than the types being retired, and some of these are more than twenty years old.

But as with most medical equipment, the cost is substantial, and in order to ensure the replacement programme is completed as quickly and easily as possible, Southport Lions Club has made a grant of £5,000 to the Southport & Formby District General Hospital for the purchase of 8 Syringe Drivers. These are in addition to the 5 which the Hospital is funding from other sources. The total of 13 meets the Hospital's current requirement though, in the Sefton and West Lancashire area, a total of more than 120 drivers will be needed.

 

As with all our projects, the funds we raise come from the generous donations of local people, who put their hands in their pockets and purses to help those in need. A big "thank you" is due to everyone!

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