£365,000 secured for Shropshire health scheme and hospital gardens in honour of Captain Sir Tom Moore

The money from NHS Charities Together will also be used to improve the outdoor environment for staff at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital (RSH) and Princess Royal Hospital (PRH) in Telford.

The successful funding bid by SaTH Charity was revealed during a meeting of The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust's board by its director of corporate services Julia Clarke, on Thursday.

SaTH Charity had submitted a bid for £143,000 to recognise Captain Sir Tom Moore through the development of outdoor areas for colleagues on both sites.

At PRH, the trust plans to develop the main courtyard, which will be called Captain Tom’s Courtyard.

A landscaped garden with seating, private areas, lighting and flower beds with curved willow fences is planned.

The trust is also planning to landscape the mound outside the ward block at RSH to create Captain Tom’s Garden.

And it also acted as the lead charity for a system-wide bid to NHS Charities Together for £222,700 for help in improving health inequalities in local communities.

Ms Clarke told the board: "Our stage two bid to NHS Charities Together was successful so the bid for £222,700 has been approved.

"That's going to support patients in their homes both to avoid admission and to recover afterwards.

"That includes groups that deal with patients living with dementia, with homeless individuals and other groups that are more vulnerable.

"Our bid for the stage three grant to NHS Charities Together for £143,000 to improve the outdoor environment for staff, in particular the two Captain Tom memorial gardens and courtyards has also been approved.

"There's also funding available in that for some of the domes."

An outdoor 'rest' dome pod has already been installed outside the acute medical unit at PRH where staff can now go to rest during their shifts.

The dome is fully equipped with heating and lighting and was funded by charitable donations.

Giving an update on SaTH charity, Ms Clarke said: "We've managed to maintain our income against a backdrop where a lot of charities have seen a decline.

"It's not just financial donations, we've seen an overwhelming amount of donations from organisations and the public.

"We've had all sorts of kindness bags and meals, scrubs over the period."

SaTH Charity also supports and recognises staff with wellbeing items, and other thank you initiatives through the Small Things Fund.

Public donations of goods and services – which included scrubs, face masks, toiletries, chocolates, gift bags and pyjamas – increased during the third national lockdown to the equivalent of more than £30,000 in cash value.