Features

Help a charity this Christmas: Great Ormond Street Hospital

Published

11 years ago

December 20, 2013

Blue & Green Tomorrow

With just five sleeps until the big day, Blue & Green Tomorrow is encouraging readers to think about donating even a small amount over the festive period to one of the many children’s charities doing exceptional work. Today, it’s Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

GOSH first opened its doors on Valentine’s Day 1852 with just ten beds and was then known as the Hospital for Sick Children. Since then it has become one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals, housing a wide range of specialists under one roof.

Many notable individuals including JM Barrie, who donated the rights of Peter Pan to GOSH, Charles Dickens, Queen Victoria and Diana Princess of Wales have supported the hospital, which now has over 220,000 patient visits every year for the rarest and most complex conditions.

Over the last 160 years GOSH has been at the forefront of developing new and improved ways of treating childhood diseases. Milestones include opening the first leukaemia research unit in 1961, undertaking the world’s first stem cell supported tracheal transplant in a child in 2010 and opening Europe’s first research centre to tackle birth defects last year.

The charity faces the huge task of raising £50 million each year in order to continue its pioneering treatment and research. The donations are critical for the work the hospital does for sick children and their families focussing on four main areas – redevelopment, research, medial equipment and accommodation and welfare.