TO GET the ball rolling, a quiz night will be held in Holsworthy to kickstart fundraising so the town’s community hospital staff can buy new equipment and expand services.

On Friday, December 1, teams of six are invited to pit their wits against each other at the fundraising quiz night, to be held in The White Hart Hotel.

The staff at Holsworthy Community Hospital are hoping to purchase infusions pumps and Connex observation machines to enable the Day Case Unit at the hospital to better serve the local community and expand its current services.

Although the hospital’s beds have been temporarily closed by the Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust amidst staffing and occupancy concerns the staff would like to reiterate to the public that the hospital is still open and all other services are running as normal.

“We need to remind people that Holsworthy’s hospital is still open, it is only the beds that have temporarily closed,” says Ben Longhurst-Prior, who was the creator of #supportourstaff and is part of the organising team for the quiz. He said: “The girls at the hospital have worked very hard to organise this quiz and come up with the fundraising idea so we can buy some new equipment for the hospital.

“I have been around to several businesses in the town and, of the 20 or so I spoke to, about 18 have said to me ‘I didn’t think the hospital was still open’ — this is a worrying trend and not true. The staff are working very hard to expand and bring in new treatments to the hospital’s Day Case Unit to better serve the local community and the money raised from the quiz will go towards this.”

He said the staff are looking to raise around £13,000 to purchase the new equipment. Currently the equipment used at the hospital is often on loan from the medical equipment library based at Barnstaple.

Mr Longhurst-Prior said: “The staff have to loan the equipment they use from the medical equipment library in Barnstaple at the moment but how great would it be for us to have our own equipment here at Holsworthy hospital? It would mean we could carry on regardless.

“The staff are hoping to purchase a ‘vein finder’, this will be used during canulation to help them literally find a vein quickly. It will also be used to develop training techniques.”

The staff hope to have a large turn out to the event to kick-start their fundraising.

Mr Longhurst-Prior said: “The Day Case Unit is expanding all the time to bring new treatments to the hospital for the community. The team is also looking to try and bring chemotherapy to Holsworthy’s hospital at some point in the future, which is exciting.

“We just need people to know that the hospital is still open for business as usual despite the beds being temporarily closed and we are working hard to ensure new treatments are brought in for the community. So I ask everyone to please come along and #supportourstaff.”

The quiz will be held at The White Hart Hotel, Holsworthy, on Friday, December 1, starting at 7.30pm. Entry costs £5 with all money raised going to the hospital.

To enter a team in the fundraising quiz night contact Donna Hill on 01409 253424 or email [email protected] or contact The White Hart Hotel on 01409 253475.