News release: Wednesday 28 Sept 2022
Over £1,300 was raised at a special charity event at Watford’s Boom Battle Bar last night (Tues 27 Sept). The funds will go towards the Super Scanner appeal being run by Raise – the charity for West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
Owner, Akshay Barot, explained why the bar got involved: “We’re a relatively new games bar in the area but we’re all local and hold Watford Hospital very close to our hearts. Most of us have been cared for there, as well as our families and friends, and the new scanner sounds life-changing, so we were keen to help.”
The Boom Battle team decided to run the special evening just for local NHS staff as a way of thanking them for all their hard work and dedication in recent years. They offered a reduced price entry ticket which was donated straight to Raise’s scanner appeal.
The doctors, nurses and other professionals all had a great evening of axe-throwing, augmented reality darts, ‘crazier nolf’ and American pool, knowing they were supporting a great cause.
The team at Raise has already secured over 94% of the £695,000 needed for the appeal. Samantha Sherratt, the charity’s CEO, said: “We’re so nearly at our target and we can’t thank the Boom Battle Bar and the wider community enough for sharing our vision. Our patients deserve to benefit from the latest, cutting edge-equipment and the most advanced medical procedures. This scanner will help transform West Herts NHS into a world-leading provider of pinhole surgery.”
Dr Shilpan Patel, one of the clinicians leading the appeal, explains: “Our new interventional radiology scanner will help us carry out minimally invasive pinhole surgery, using x-rays, CT scans, ultrasound and MRIs to guide surgical equipment into parts of the body that couldn’t normally be reached without open surgery. This will transform how we treat patients. They’ll be treated faster, return home sooner and heal more quickly than using traditional techniques.”
The scanner will sit at the heart of a new interventional radiology suite being developed at Watford General hospital. It should open in early 2023.
Readers wanting to support the scanner appeal can donate online at www.raisewestherts.org.uk/donate or call Samantha Sherratt on 07815 459037.