THE Friends of the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester has launched a public appeal to fund a £20,000 ultrasound machine.

The investment will support pain relief for breast surgery and obstetrics in Florence Portal House.

The independent Friends charity donated over £60,000 last year, to mark its 60th anniversary, and in excess of £2million has been donated towards the purchase of over 1,000 items of much needed medical equipment in support of patient care and recovery at the RHCH, since the Friends was founded in 1955.

The Friends has agreed to support the £20,000 cost of this state of the art diagnostic equipment, which will be used on a daily basis in FPH by the Anaesthetic and ICU teams.

This appeal comes on top of a further £25,000 which the Friends has been able to donate to the hospital this year.

The Friends has set up a MyDonate facility through its website: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/florenceportalhouse and invites donations from all who wish to support the provision of this ultrasound guided pain relief for those requiring treatment.

Friends chairman Richard Chisnell said: “With the continuing squeeze on capital expenditure items by the NHS, any funding help provided by the Friends can have far reaching implications for patient care and recovery.

"n behalf of the RHCH Friends, I express our sincere gratitude to all members of the public, along with local businesses, who feel able to support our efforts. The local community is our main source of income and we need to encourage and sustain a public focus on our brilliant Hospital to ensure it remains fit for patient purpose in the 21st century.”

If you wish to support the Friends appeal, click on the link above and make your donation now.

The Friends hopes to achieve its £20,000 target by the end of January 2017.

Full details covering the successful 2015 and 2016 Hospital funding Bids are available to view on the Friends website: winchesterlof@btck.co/.uk