Join us as we cycle 100km to raise funds to support the staff at Kingston Hospital.

From 8am on Saturday 30th January, Digme are inviting as many members as possible to join in from the comfort of their own home and pedal towards that 100km mark with the help of some great music and banter! Back in Lockdown 1, hundreds of Diggers joined us as we did a NHS Charities Together Fundraiser and wed love to make this event even bigger and better.

Youll cycle to the beat of Rosies epic playlist from 8am before joining our signature Ride classes at 9am with Frances and 10am with Rosie. Rosies even got a special DJ Series Best of Collection playlist lined up for you!

Whether you have a turbo trainer, an indoor spin bike, or if you plan on heading out on your road bike to clock up the kms, wed love for you to join us and help raise money for the amazing people who work at Kingston Hospital.

Click here to book your place and get access to the Zoom link: https://www.digmefitness.com/events/details/100km-challenge-for-kingston-hospital

A bit about what the donations at Kingston Hospital will be used for from this event

In response to feedback from staff, during the pandemic Kingston Hospital Charity has supported the installation of additional showers for use by the staff.  The hospital has also recently established a Bicycle Users Group to actively promote cycling as a healthy means of commuting to work, while supporting mental wellbeing.  During the first national lockdown, staff were able to cycle through Richmond Park to/ from work when the public were not.

For many staff, cycling as an option is dependent on access to shower facilities and being able to access secure storage facilities while at work.  It is for this reason a central location on site has just been earmarked to provide a substantive and secure unit which would replace the insufficient, inadequate and poorly located bike racks that are currently on the site, many of which are some distance from where the individual staff member works and in areas not frequently patrolled by security staff. Consequently, there has been a spate of bike thefts.

The estimated cost of converting the old gases store to provide a centrally located and secure, racked bicycle storage is approximately £26,500.  Once funding is in place, it is expected these works could proceed without delay, ensuring this facility is in place to encourage more staff to cycle, as we move into the recovery phase of the pandemic, supporting our staffs physical and mental wellbeing.

While we all welcome the roll-out of the vaccine that is now underway, the hospital is facing its toughest ever test this winter. The ongoing pandemic is creating very significant additional pressures on an already very tired work force and the provision of a hot meal each evening is greatly valued and appreciated by staff working nights.

Working with a small number of local businesses, we have started providing these meals from 7 January 2021 and our aim is to keep this going while the hospital remains extremely busy.  The cost is estimated at £12,500 per week.  Funding has been secured from a local family trust to help meet the £25,000 required for the initial two-week period, so we are seeking a further £50,000 to allow us to continue to run this programme until mid-February.

Support received during the first national lockdown, allowed us to invest in our health and wellbeing resources, with a particular emphasis on mental health support, to signpost, triage and treat staff with psychological problems arising from the pandemic.  We were able to appoint a new assistant staff wellbeing chaplain last September, immediately expanding the teams Time to Talk, which offers a confidential one-to-one session for staff to discuss and reflect on anything that is affecting their wellbeing.  Charitable support has also enabled the hospital to employ a clinical psychologist from last June to manage some of the more complex psychological issues for staff suffering with trauma related illnesses.  Our expectation is that support will be needed once we move into the recovery phase, although were not clear on the scale and scope of the programme as this stage.