 |
October
2007 |
The Healing Foundation is pleased to acknowledge the generous support of Baugur Group, who have pledged £450,000 over three years towards the area of disfigurement and visible loss of function. Baugur Group is an international investment company, with investments primarily in retail but also in property and media, in Scandinavia and the UK.
Baugur Group employ over 75,000 people in 3,900 stores with a turnover of £9.8 billion; well known retail brands include Hamley's, House of Fraser, Karen Millen, Matthew Williamson, Mappin and Webb, Coast and Whistles.
The Healing Foundation join Unicef Iceland and the Bill Clinton/ Sir Tom Hunter Carbon Offset Programme as Baugur Group's official charities. |
| |
|
| |
|
October
2007 |
Beauty therapy charity donates £1 million for burns research in Wales. Vocational Training Charitable Trust's first donation is largest to the Healing Foundation UK Centre for Burns Research.
A UK awarding body associated with hairdressing and beauty therapy is donating £1 million to support vital research at a major UK Centre for Burns Research based in Cardiff and Swansea. The first donation of its kind by The Vocational Training Charitable Trust (VTCT), it is the largest single contribution to the pioneering research programme soon to start in South Wales.
The VTCT - a Government approved awarding body offering National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in the areas of Beauty Therapy, Hairdressing, Holistic & Complementary Therapies and Sports & Fitness - is supporting the appointment of the VTCT Professor of Burn Injury Study at the Healing Foundation UK Centre for Burns Research. The Healing Foundation, a national charity funding medical research in the area of disfigurement, is establishing the Centre in partnership with Cardiff University, the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery at Morriston Hospital, Swansea, and Swansea University. It is the first major academic research Centre of its kind in the country.
The Professor, to be appointed later this year following an international search and selection process, will research the body's immunological response to burns to better understand how the life-threatening inflammation and infection problems that follow major burns can be overcome.
Commenting on the donation, Peter Wren, Chief Executive of the VTCT, said, “Our work, and the careers of those we help to train in beauty therapy, is closely associated with appearance and beauty; about looking and feeling good. It seems only right to put something back. The area of disfigurement, and burns especially, is such an important, urgent and compelling cause. We are delighted to be supporting the appointment of the VTCT Professor and be among the first to contribute to this major research initiative in South Wales”.
Welcoming the collaboration, Professor Nick Topley of Cardiff University's Department of Nephrology, commented, “This gift from the VTCT marks a major milestone for the future of burns research. It will support the VTCT Professor of Burn Injury Study for a minimum of 10 years, during which time I have no doubt that significant advances will be made in our understanding of major burn injuries. It promises the hope of new treatments for burns survivors in the future, reducing the pain and disability caused and possibly saving many thousands of lives, worldwide, otherwise lost through burns”.
Former steelworker Wayne Barnes of Neath, survived severe burns in the Corus Port Talbot Steelworks explosion of 2001. Welcoming the involvement of the VTCT he said, “I think it's wonderful that this money is going to help improve treatments for people like me in the future. I was very lucky to be treated at Morriston Hospital where the quality of care and the amazing skills of the surgeons helped me to pull through. The work supported by the VTCT and the Healing Foundation, in Swansea and Cardiff, will make sure that the very best treatments are available for everyone in the future”. |
| |
|
| |
|
September
2007 |
The Healing Foundation Marks & Spencer Reception, 25th September 2007, hosted by Appeal Chairman Mr Stuart Rose.
The Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, joined Healing Foundation ambassadors, research award recipients and special guests for an evening reception at Marks & Spencer headquarters. To start the evening Stuart Rose introduced the new Healing Foundation video, produced specially by leading advertising agency RKCR/ Y&R.
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
July
2007 |
New research highlights information gap for people living with disfiguring conditions
Hundreds of thousands of people affected by disfigurement are not getting the information they need to help them deal with the psychological and social aspects of their condition according to new research. Adapting psychologically and socially to looking different, or to a change in appearance is often one of the most difficult aspects of their lives.
Both patients and health professionals who took part in the research by the Picker Institute for the Healing Foundation said the NHS lacks the resources to provide good psychological support and rehabilitation following trauma or surgery.
Helen Magee, senior research associate at the Picker Institute, said: “People with all kinds of disfiguring conditions told us that it was important to them, but also difficult, to find information about how to deal with their emotions, manage social situations and get counselling.”
Professor Nichola Rumsey, Director of the Centre for Appearance Research, added: “This report highlights that there is a need for health professionals to focus on providing more information of a psycho-social nature to patients.”
Health professionals are at the centre of this information gap. All the patient groups - including people with cancers of the head and neck, people with burns, and people with conditions like psoriasis - said health professionals are their most important source of information, but often do not communicate well, and fail to 'signpost' them to further good sources of information.
Brendan Eley, Chief Executive of the Healing Foundation commented: “This research demonstrates that whilst there is a wide range of materials available to patients there are some real areas for improvement in information provision. Anyone can be affected by disfigurement and the causes vary widely from congenital conditions to disease and trauma. Through research like this we are better able to identify what patients want and need.”
James Partridge, Chief Executive of Changing Faces, the charity that supports and represents people with disfigurements, welcomed the findings: “It is vital that the information necessary to support people living with disfigurement to manage the physical, psychological and practical consequences is provided in the right way at the right time and is made as accessible as possible.”
The report was funded by the GUS Charitable Trust and involved extensive qualitative and quantitative research. The findings will be used to inform wider debate among the healthcare and voluntary sector on the provision of information for people with disfiguring conditions, a group whose access to information is profoundly affected by the psychological impact of their condition.
Supporting cross-agency cooperation, the Healing Foundation is underpinning further work in this area and will be organising a national, two day conference for health professionals during 2008, exploring the broad issues of psychological adjustment to disfigurement and information needs.
Other findings from the research were that:
- those people most concerned about their appearance were found to have the greatest information requirements
- there is a need for more of the available information to be made accessible to more people
- visual information - such as photos showing what patients may look like after surgery - is highly valued by those who have used it, even though many patients say beforehand that they may not want it
- peer group support is very highly valued for reassurance and practical advice
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
