The parents of very sick new born babies in the North of England have been offered a lifeline to help them get through difficult times when their children are in hospital.
The operator of the Tyne Tunnels, TT2, has given the charity Tiny Lives Trust a £10,000 donation to pay for the transport of approximately 350 families to and from hospital, to visit their poorly babies, for a whole year.
Tiny Lives Trust’s transport scheme enables parents to spend invaluable time with their sick children by removing the financial burden of transport. In July 2022 the charity saw a 100% increase in the need for their vital transport support scheme, compared with July 2021.
The generous donation from TT2 will buy hospital parking permits for parents with a car and pay for public transport travel passes for those that don’t, and for those in the greatest hardship, help with fuel costs.
It is estimated that neonatal families in England are forced to lose on average, £405 a week when their baby is in hospital, which includes travel, parking, food and drink, childcare for siblings and loss of earnings. For many families, these unexpected expenses cannot be absorbed and without financial assistance, visiting their baby as much as they want to, would not be possible.
Rachel Hardwick, Funding & Partnerships Officer at Tiny Lives, said: “We cannot thank TT2 enough for its support. Donations like this one help us provide a valuable safety net for parents entering a world completely out of their control by supplying items, funds, staff specialists and support networks to help make their neonatal journeys a little easier.”
As the Regional Centre of Excellence, the neonatal unit at the RVI hospital in Newcastle looks after babies from across the North East and Cumbria. Babies are transferred to the RVI from other hospitals in the Northern Neonatal Network. This means parents could be travelling to the RVI from homes in the borders of Cumbria and Northumberland down to as far south as Northallerton. Many families also have other children at home which increases their need for travel to and from the hospital.
TT2’s Customer Operations Manager, Shaun Simmons, said: “Tiny Lives is a charity that is close to employee’s hearts. Having a premature or poorly newborn baby can be one of the most difficult and life-changing challenges a family can experience, so when we heard we could play a part in supporting parents in this terrible position, we were delighted to do so.”