AIREDALE Hospital and Community Charity, the official NHS charity for Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, has benefited from an NHS Charities Together grant to fund two ChargeBoxFAST charging stations, each costing £12,000.

The units provide 30 minutes of free, fast charging for all mobile devices and can be used by patients, visitors, and staff at Airedale Hospital. One box has been installed in the hospital’s main entrance and the other is in the Emergency Department (ED).

The charging units provide fast charging and are easy for people to use: you open an available locker, plug your device into the correct charging cable, lock the door, and leave your device to charge for 30 minutes.

Jodie Hearnshaw, charity manager at Airedale Hospital and Community Charity, said: “We recognised the need to keep patients, visitors, and staff connected with loved ones. Unplanned visits to the ED are stressful, so being able to keep phones charged really helps to alleviate the anxiety caused by low batteries. Our aim was to improve experiences for patients and help people stay connected with family and friends in a time of need.

“It will make such a difference to people who are at the hospital for longer than planned, or who left home in a rush without a charged phone. In the first few days that the ChargeBox in the Emergency Department was up and running, it was used over 100 times which immediately showed us that it is making an impact on people coming to the ED.

“This initiative is also raising morale within our workforce as Airedale colleagues who need to charge their devices while they’re working can now do so safely and securely.”

To make the project possible, Airedale Hospital and Community Charity received grant funding from NHS Charities Together – the national independent charity that cares for the NHS.

Ellie Orton OBE, Chief Executive of NHS Charities Together, said: “We all know how stressful the hospital environment can be – losing access to your phone is the last thing you want to worry about. We hope these new facilities will help both those patients who need to keep in touch with loved ones during a time of crisis, and the hard-working staff who use breaks to escape from the pressures of the ward. Thanks to everyone who has made this support possible and helped to keep people at Airedale connected when they need it most.”