The Brompton Fountain's letter submitted to the Times and Independent newspapers November 2011

Sir,

Sir Neil McKay appears to suggest that his review into children’s heart surgery should be above the law (Times November 11, 2011) in that it is ‘unacceptable’ for the judicial review to quash the recent consultation. What he refers to as a ‘mere technicality’ is the assessment of the quality and excellence of the service and research performed by Royal Brompton.

Mr Justice Owen quashed the consultation, describing it as unlawful, because of serious distortion of the process that meant it went “radically wrong”. What is unacceptable is for Sir Neil and his team of civil servants to seek to deny this injustice. It is imperative that this review is based on a fair and just assessment of the quality of the centres concerned. This has not happened. Surely our children deserve it?

Geoff Baldwin PhD

Deputy Chairman

The Brompton Fountain

SOS Brompton Bake Sale

On 18th October we held a Bake Sale inside the Outpatients Department at the Fulham Road Building of Royal Brompton. It was another lovely morning with some wonderful cakes, we raised lots of awareness in the area and over £320 in funds!

Brompton Tea Party

On September 29th we held a fantastic Brompton Tea Party at the hospital to raise funds and celebrate the campaign so far. Staff, parents, patients and supporters came together by baking delicious lemon drizzle cakes, cupcakes, chocolate cakes, muffins, apple pie and more for everyone to enjoy. We raised an amazing £540!!

September 2011 - BIG SOS Awareness Week

We ran our first BIG Awareness week from September 19-25th!!

There were activities running in and around the hospital. We set up information stands and sold campaign materials - wristbands, tshirts, badges, car stickers and our brand new SOS key rings!!! All surrounded by our eye catching SOS bunting!!

Many supporters held events in their own areas, including non uniform or wear red days at their school and cake sales and coffee mornings. Altogether we raised nearly £2000 and raised LOTS of awareness for the cause. Thank you to everyone who supported this activity!

Campaign march and Fun day - July 2011

Campaign march - July 2011

On 9th July 2011 we marched from the Houses of Parliament to Royal Brompton Hospital to raise awareness of our cause.

Dozens of supporters arrived on the Saturday morning ready for the SOS Royal Brompton march. Almost 200 patients, parents, grandparents, friends and RBH staff members came together to show how much the hospital means to them - they marched back to Royal Brompton Hospital, handing out SOS flyers and chanting 'Save the Royal Brompton Hospital'.

This was followed by a fun day at the St Lukes gardens, opposite the hospital where refreshments were served, children's activities were available and Beano the Clown entertained us all!! We also released hundreds of SOS balloons!! There will be more events to come - watch this space and our Facebook page for details!!

The day was highly successful, gaining news covereage from the BBC and ITV and raising awareness accross London. Thank you to everyone who took part and everyone who helped with preparations and ensuring that the day ran smoothly!

Please click HERE for info on the SOS Royal Brompton Summer raffle.

Balloon release

Petition Presentation and Demonstration - June 2011

The Brompton Fountain started a petition to save children's cardiac services at Royal Brompton - it ran from March - June 2011 and collected in excess of 45,000 signatures in total (including an online version and paper copies). We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported this activity by running the petition in their local shops, schools, clubs and communities.

Demonstration - SOS Supporters June 2011

On June 24th the petition was presented at 10 Downing Street by RBH parents and patients, along with MP for Chelsea and Fulham Greg Hands. Supporters gathered outside Downing Street with SOS tshirts, banners and balloons to show how much the children's unit means to them all. The event was filmed by ITV London News and covered by the Kensington and Chelsea Chronicle.