Facial Surgery and Orthodontics Unit Special Appeal at the Royal United Hospitals


The Forever Friends Appeal
The Forever Friends Appeal is the charity arm of the Royal United Hospitals (RUH) in Bath which has raised more than £27m over the last 20 years to enhance patient care. Its campaigns have helped pay for additional equipment and facilities, exciting initiatives, research and innovations, as well as the finishing touches and ‘extras’ that complement the existing high quality care provided by RUH staff. The Medlock Charitable Trust has donated a total of £2.45m to the Forever Friends Appeal since its formation, supporting numerous projects including:
– £1million pledge to our Cancer Care Campaign for the new cancer centre in 2012
– £100,000 towards our Friendly Faces Project to support patients living with dementia by providing arts and activities in 2015
– £100,000 for a pilot project to support the pharmacy team with speedier delivery and recovery of dispensed drugs in 2019
– £10,000 towards the Dyson Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in 2011

Project: Facial Surgery and Orthodontics Unit Special Appeal

Grants: £100,000 in match funding in 2018

Key achievements:

  • £250,000 raised to help fund a new Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Orthodontics department (OMFS)
  • New £2.7m facilities positioned the RUH as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ for conditions of the head and neck.
  • 9,900 patients benefitting from improved facilities in the department each year

Overview:

With the support of the Medlock Charitable Trust and other partners, the RUH Bath opened a new £2.7m Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Orthodontics department in May 2019.

The new facilities have positioned the hospital as a ‘Centre of Excellence’ for conditions of the head and neck, including cancer.

To support the scheme, the Medlock Charitable Trust agreed to match fund up to £100,000 raised by the hospital’s Forever Friends Appeal.

This enabled the Forever Friends Appeal to smash its fundraising target of £250,000 helping pay for state of the art facilities including new Cone-Beam CT X-ray machine, four modern consulting rooms, a fully equipped orthodontics suite, two minor operations rooms, an updated dental laboratory alongside a bright and a welcoming reception and waiting area.

The new RUH Facial Surgery and Orthodontics department was relocated to a different part of the hospital to enable the building of the new Dyson Centre Cancer as part of a wider ongoing hospital redevelopment programme.

The Facial Surgery and Orthodontics Unit is where medicine and dentistry overlap. It provides diagnosis and management of facial skin cancer, malignant disease of the jaw and mouth, traumatic facial injuries, infections of deep spaces of the head and neck, facial deformity, salivary gland pathology, facial pain, oral surgery, oral pathology and orthodontics.

The department is unique compared with other district general hospitals in offering specialist paediatric dentistry and orthodontics assessments on the same day – providing an extra level of care and convenience for children and their families.

The new facility will enable staff to work closely with colleagues in the pioneering new Cancer Centre and specialists in other fields – such as ear, nose and throat surgeons, clinical oncologists, restorative dentists, and radiologists. It is designed to be a calming environment which aids healing and patient wellbeing.