Anonymous donors contribute further £250,000 to Fife Health Charity

Local donors who previously donated £500,000 to help patients and healthcare staff in Fife during the coronavirus pandemic have made a further donation.

An additional £250,000 has now been given to Fife Health Charity by anonymous benefactors who are pleased with how their initial contribution has been used to support patients and hard working healthcare staff.

The previous donation has been used to fund a range of initiatives such as the purchase of more than 100 tablet computers to allow patients to video call their loved ones while visiting restrictions have stayed in place.

An outdoor gym for patients and staff has been built at Lynebank Hospital in Dunfermline.

Other things that have been funded include televisions for ward areas, radios and portable translation devices for patients who are not fluent in English.

£100,000 from the previous donation has also been used to fund half of the £200,000 cost to establish a permanent wellbeing hub for healthcare staff at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

In addition, £10,000 has been allocated to Maggie's Centre in Kirkcaldy and £5,000 to Blood Bikes Scotland, who provided support to NHS Fife during the early stages of the pandemic.

There will be announcements in the coming weeks once plans have been developed on specifically how the £250,000 donation is to be used.

The charity's cash can't be used to provide core health services.

Chair of the Fife Health Charity's Board of Trustees Tricia Marwick said: "This is a quite extraordinary act of kindness and we are genuinely blown away by the generosity shown yet again.

"The earlier donation of £500,000 has funded a wide range of initiatives and has been invaluable in helping us provide some of the home comforts that have made patients’ stay in hospital more bearable whilst visiting restrictions have been in place.

"On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I wanted to offer our most sincere thank you for the donation.

"We will ensure that the gift is used wisely to provide the maximum benefit for both patients and staff here in Fife."