New Vital Signs Monitor Presented to the Royal Surrey’s Maternity Unit

The Pritchett and Quddoos families, with the support of The Rotary Club of Ripley and Send, presented a new vital signs monitor to the Royal Surrey’s Maternity Unit on Wednesday 9th November. 

Janet Hobbs, President of The Rotary Club of Ripley and Send, and Malcolm Pritchett, a founder member of the Club, visited the unit which saved Rafi’s life two years ago, having raised £3,000 for the monitor which is a modern version of the one that was used to help with Rafi’s care.

Rafi was born to Malcolm’s daughter, Sally, who had been very ill while she was pregnant. She was being monitored by a CTG machine donated by the Rotary Club more than 10 years earlier.  The machine detected an urgent problem with the baby’s heartbeat and Sally underwent an emergency Caesarean Section within 30 minutes. Rafi was born weighing only  1.2 Kg (2 lbs 10 ozs) some 10 weeks early.  Rafi spent 8 weeks in the Special Care Baby Unit, he is now a thriving 2 year old. The old monitor saved his life. In gratitude for this and recognition of the value of such equipment, Malcolm and the family initiated a campaign for a replacement. 

The Royal Surrey delivers over 3,200 babies a year and having the right equipment is very important to our service.  It was very fortunate to have the support of The Rotary Club of Ripley and Send some time ago when a monitor was also bought with its support.

Charlotte Langley, Royal Surrey Director of Fundraising, commented;

“We are enormously grateful to all those grateful patients, the families and community groups who support our departments and wards by giving gifts and raising funds.  Although an NHS hospital like the Royal Surrey is mostly funded through state funding by tax payers we do need to enhance our services by purchasing the latest equipment and most up-to-date technology that, due to the financial challenges of the NHS, we simply cannot afford.”