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Hospital gets £4.8m Olympic donation
29 Jun 2009One of the London 2012 Olympic hospitals is getting a £4.8 million donation for medical equipment, it was announced today.
The Homerton University Hospital in Hackney in east London, the nearest hospital to the Olympic Park, aims to boost its care of premature and sick babies.
Hi-tech equipment including foetal monitors, incubators and an MR scanner have been earmarked for the money which has been donated by London 2012 worldwide sponsor GE.
Jeff Immelt, GE's chair and chief executive, said: "As one of the designated Olympic hospitals, it is fitting that Homerton Hospital should be the beneficiary of our legacy donation.
"We have decided to focus on maternal and newborn care to address a major local issue, which will help to create a brighter future for the people of east London for generations to come, while also helping to address a topic of national importance to the NHS."
With around one in nine newborn babies needing some form of specialist hospital care in the UK this area has become a major priority for the Health Department.
Britain is an important investment market for GE as it has 19,000 employees based here along with GE Healthcare's global headquarters.
It is expected that a new perinatal centre at Homerton Hospital will open in early 2011.
Nancy Hallett, trust chief executive for Homerton Hospital, said: "The infant mortality rates in our local communities are among the highest in the country.
"By giving us access to some of the latest equipment, our maternity and neonatal teams will be able to provide state-of-the-art services in a new, modern environment for expectant mothers and their newly born babies throughout all stages of the child-bearing process from the earliest scans through to labour, delivery and post delivery."
London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton welcomed GE's donation, saying: "(It) is one of the first examples of a tangible legacy left by a corporate sponsor beyond the 2012 Games.
"This is what Olympic Legacy is all about - giving the people of East London access to world class facilities on their doorstep - in this case healthcare - which will help improve lives for generations to come."
Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said the donation would bring life-changing benefits to east Londoners long after the 2012 Games had ended.
She noted: "The potentially life-saving technology being contributed by GE will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of new babies and mums in east London for generations to come."
