Today marks the first month since I joined the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital Charity. I wanted to start my first blog in this role by thanking everyone I’ve met – staff, trustees, supporters and colleagues at the hospitals – for making me feel so welcome.

I’ve already had a chance to see the extraordinary difference supporters make to our two hospitals, funding new and better equipment, vital research programmes and a whole range of projects to improve the experience of patients and provide support for staff.

Last week I spent a day at Harefield hospital. My highlights were touring the cardiac catheter labs that the charity has provided funding for; viewing the new Healing Garden, a beautiful space for patients and their families to find some moments of peace amidst the bustle of the hospital; and, of course, meeting our fabulous fundraising team based at Harefield.

As a charity, our focus right now is on helping our hospitals recover from the disruption of Covid-19. Our two scanner appeals are coming to an end and the state of the art scanners will come on line later this year, they will be invaluable in ensuring that patients receive the treatment they need, when they need it. There is so much work to do to deal with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic for both hospitals. Every donation makes a difference to the work we can support at the hospitals, so I’d like to thank everyone who participated in our recent Spring Raffle. Congratulations to those who won some great prizes too.

Finally, I’m pleased to say I’ve signed up for my first event for the Charity – on 25 July, I will be participating in our London Bridges Walk event. If you’d like to join me, you can sign up here.