That new car, dream holiday or new fitted kitchen could be closer than you think as a new lottery is launched today (19 February 2018) by Bay Hospitals Charity, the official charity of University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT).
Each week, players have the chance to win the £25,000 jackpot plus many other fantastic cash prizes, and at the same help raise vital funds to support care across Morecambe Bay Hospitals.
For every £1 entry – at least 50p comes directly to Bay Hospitals Charity to help the charity improve the hospital environment; purchase the latest in state-of-the-art equipment and provide extra care ‘over and above’ what is currently provided by the NHS to help make the hospital and community experience across Morecambe Bay hospitals better and improve health outcomes for local people. The remainder goes to our trusted lottery provider, Unity Lottery who provide administration support and cover the cost of all prizes won; so there are no ongoing costs to the charity for running the lottery!
How the new Bay Hospitals Lottery will help raise vital funds to support care across Morecambe Bay Hospitals.
Heather Wood, Matron for Children and Young People at Furness General Hospital (FGH) said:
“The Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) at the South Lakes Birth Centre at FGH looks after babies who need more than the usual level of care in the first few days and weeks of their life. These include babies who are born prematurely, have difficulty being delivered or have concerns following birth.
“Thanks to Bay Hospitals Charity, last year we were able to fund a brand new incubator for our SCBU at FGH. Recently incubator manufacturers have developed newer models, which have some really useful benefits. The newer features include special noise and light controls which are key to optimising brain development in premature babies.
“The new incubator can also be lowered to the height of a parent’s lap, with a special tray that pulls out, allowing parents to almost have their baby on their lap. Babies in our neonatal unit are sometimes too small, or too sick and vulnerable to be cuddled and held like a healthy baby and we know parental contact and touch is really important.
“Additional money raised from the new lottery will help us and other clinical teams across Morecambe Bay Hospitals purchase the very latest in state-of-the-art equipment”.
Dianne Smith, Dementia Matron at UHMBT, said:
“Bay Hospitals Charity and their incredible supporters do brilliant work throughout the year supporting our patients and clinical teams across Morecambe Bay hospitals.
“Thanks to the charity, last year we purchased reminiscence shops and memory walls .Using memorabilia such as old-fashioned shops and old pictures of the local area help our clinical teams provide a therapeutic environment for our patients to reminisce and staff can also use these items when caring for people with dementia who are unsettled or agitated or need some social activity.
“These additional items, which our charity has funded, will help us deliver even better care for the patients living with dementia across our hospitals”. I think the new lottery is great idea”.
Sue Smith OBE, Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Chief Nurse at UHMBT said:
“This new lottery is really exciting news and not only stands to raise a significant amount of money to allow our charity to fund additional medical equipment but will also go towards providing specialist training for staff and towards improving the physical hospital environment.
“It’s also a fun way for local people to support their local hospitals. It would be great if as many people as possible could support us by getting behind the lottery, and be in with a chance to win up to £25,000 every week!”
The new Unity lottery is run by the Barrow-In-Furness based lottery company – Sterling Lotteries – who already run lottery and raffle services for over 350 charities, good causes and organisations across the UK.
Sterling Lotteries are the current titleholders for the Institute of Fundraising’s Best Lottery Provider Award.
Richard Dixon, Managing Director of Sterling Lotteries, said:
”We are proud and privileged to work closely with Bay Hospitals Charity and to help support our local NHS hospitals across Morecambe Bay.
“I hope people get behind the charity by signing up to their new lottery and give themselves the chance of winning at the same time. It is really satisfying to know we are doing our bit to help our local hospitals and I hope Sterling Lotteries can keep on raising funds for Bay Hospitals Charity for many years to come”.
Bay Hospitals Charity is a registered charity set up to hold and manage charitable money given to UHMBT’s hospitals. It is the generosity of the local communities that enables the charity to enhance and support the Trust’s services, helping to provide additional medical equipment, medical research, specialist training and improvements to patient facilities.
To play the lottery, visit: http://www.bayhospitalscharity.org/lottery
How the Bay Hospitals Charity Lottery works:
- For just £1 per week players are allocated a unique six digit lottery number
- A random winning number is drawn each week – the aim is to match the winning numbers
- Winners need to match 3, 4, 5 or six digits to the winning number in the same place in the sequence
- If you successfully match 3 or more digits in the sequence then your prize will be posted directly to you
- Match all six digits in the sequence and you’ll win the weekly £25,000 jackpot
- The odds of winning any prize are 1 in 63
- It only takes minutes to sign up!
- If you would like to check your number each week, the winning numbers are published every Monday on the Unity website: unitylottery.co.uk
To sign up and help support your local NHS hospitals across Morecambe Bay, visit http://www.bayhospitalscharity.org/lottery