EFFORTS to buy new monitoring equipment for ill children have received a cash boost from a homebuilder.

The Oxford Hospitals Charity's campaign to upgrade children's monitors in hospitals across the county is being given £2,000 in funding from CALA Homes.

The charity is seeking to install the new equipment across all its hospitals, making it easier and more effective for doctors assessing the condition of patients.

Damon Boughen, community fundraising manager at Oxford Hospitals Charity, said: “The funding from CALA Homes will go a long way towards us achieving our goal of upgrading the children’s monitoring equipment across our hospitals.

"The new cutting-edge monitors we are purchasing give staff accurate and vital information about each child.

"They are also mobile, so can travel with children if they are moving wards.

"This is a significant upgrade on the previous system, where children would have to be disconnected and reconnected to multiple machines each time they were moved.

“We really cannot thank CALA enough for their kind donation, which will have an incredible benefit on young people in hospitals across Oxfordshire.”

Upgrading the monitors in paediatric wards across the county is currently the main project for the charity, which was founded as a way of organising and distributing funding more effectively across Oxfordshire hospital wards.

Hospitals benefitting include the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxfordshire Children’s Hospital, Churchill Hospital and Horton General Hospital in Banbury.

By bringing the separate areas of fundraising under one banner, the charity is able to provide support across the board, and ensure that each donation goes directly to the organisation with greatest need.

The grant comes from CALA Homes Community Bursary initiative, which launched in February 2018 and encourages local charities, groups and organisations to apply for funding for a special project or to purchase essential equipment necessary for the growth of their group within their community.

Helen Colman, sales and marketing director for the Chiltern area, said: “Choosing the successful applicants of this year’s community bursary scheme was an incredibly tough decision, and we had many applications displaying worthwhile causes.

"The work that Oxford Hospitals Charity is doing really stood out to us, and will be incredibly beneficial to both the children and staff on paediatric wards.

“Community is at the very heart of our ethos at CALA Homes, and we are so pleased to have found a local charity which encompasses this so well.”

The housebuilder's developments include Hopefield Grange, Benson, Oakwood Gate, Bampton and Cotefield, Banbury.