Former patient named Cornwall air ambulance ambassador
Webb said the charity "means everything to me"."They were so instrumental, I probably would not have survived if I didn't get to Salisbury," he said."I had to go into intensive care and have a tracheotomy, if I wasn't in that spinal unit I probably wouldn't have made it."I will always champion them, what an amazing charity, they saved my life and they've saved so many lives."Mr Webb joins the charity's other ambassadors, which includes television presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, business owners Dr Karen Dickens, Rob Harris MBE and Jackie Stanley DL and chefs Paul Ainsworth, with his wife Emma, and Gordon Ramsay, with his wife Tana.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Girl, 14, died at psychiatric hospital after 'worker' with false ID left her alone - then fled the UK, inquest hears
A 14-year-old girl who should have been under constant supervision at a psychiatric hospital has died after a 'care worker', who used a fake ID to get the job, left her alone before fleeing to Ghana, an inquest has heard. Ruth Szymankiewicz, from Salisbury, Wiltshire, had an eating disorder and was a patient at Huntercombe Hospital's Thames ward, a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) in Maidenhead, since October 2021. She had been placed under strict one-to-one supervision following a self-harming incident 10 days before her death, a jury inquest held at Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court heard on Monday. However, on February 12, 2022, the member of staff responsible for watching her - a man then known as Ebo Acheampong - failed to maintain the constant supervision plan, the court was told. He left Ruth unaccompanied for around 15 minutes and she was left to walk around the hospital and to her room, assistant coroner Ian Wade KC said. The teenager was found unconscious shortly after, having been left alone long enough to asphyxiate herself and sadly died at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford two days later. A post-mortem examination carried out by the Home Office later determined the preliminary cause of death to be 'hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy' - a type of brain damage due to lack of oxygen. It later emerged Acheampong had been using false identity documents and was hired by the hospital under a fake name, Mr Wade told the court. Speaking to jurors, the coroner said: 'The evidence showed he had been employed through an agency (Platinum), who checked his identity documents, and they even trained him by putting him through a day-and-a-half course. 'It appears that these particular processes were the norm and were sufficient to enable a hospital to employ this person. 'But on February 12, he did not keep Ruth under a constant watch. 'Some time around 8pm in the evening, this man ended his shift without knowing where she was and without making sure that he handed her over to another member of staff to continue the one-to-one care regime. 'He simply left.' Acheampong never returned to work at Huntercombe Hospital and instead fled the UK to Ghana, where it is thought he is originally from, jurors were told. 'It seems that he learned what happened that evening,' Mr Wade said. Thames Valley Police launched an investigation and found Acheampong had gone to Heathrow airport and got on a plane to Ghana 'never to be seen again', the coroner said. 'You will not hear from that man, and he let Ruth down,' Mr Wade told jurors. The court further heard Huntercombe Hospital had been inspected twice by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) prior to the incident. 'The CQC had not reported favourably on Huntercombe,' the coroner told the inquest. Active Care Group, which owned Huntercombe at the time of Ruth's death, has since closed the facility. Paying tribute the Ruth, her parents Kate and Mark, a GP and surgeon respectively, said she loved animals and reading and had a 'fiery, determined' personality and a 'huge heart'. They said she 'was and still is deeply loved' and added her death has 'shattered' them. The jury was told Ruth had climbed Kilimanjaro aged just 11 and had once lived in Tanzania for a period of time with her parents and two sisters. Ruth was initially being cared for on the children's ward at Salisbury Hospital but was transferred to Southampton for further care after she was injured when a nasogastric tube fed contents into a lung instead of her stomach in September 2021. Her parents said they were told days later that Ruth would be moved to Huntercombe Hospital, which they found had a poor rating and was a two-hour drive away from their home. Her mother, Dr Szymankiewicz, said the process for why Ruth needed to be moved to the hospital and onto a PICU was 'opaque' and that the system was 'incredibly difficult to navigate'. In a statement, she said: 'We wish we had fought harder. We had no idea how awful it would be.' She said there was 'never any sense that staff thought it was important to communicate' with them about her daughter's care. Serious incidents, including Ruth drinking cleaning fluid and having black eyes, were not raised with them, Dr Szymankiewicz added. The inquest, at Buckinghamshire Coroner's Court in Beaconsfield, is expected to last for about two weeks.
BBC News
17 hours ago
- BBC News
Surrey charity hits out at council 'U-turn' over unpaid carers
A charity has said it will continue supporting 274 unpaid carers after a local authority "made a last-minute decision to cut off further funding".Crossroads Care Surrey (CCS) has been delivering government-funded respite breaks for unpaid carers across the county for the last 14 years. It claimed that in February, Surrey County Council (SCC) unexpectedly served the organisation six months' notice on a contract that should not have ended until March council said it had always planned on a "smooth transition" away from CCS. "This abrupt U-turn not only breaks the promise made to unpaid carers, it also places already exhausted individuals in an impossible position," said CCS chief executive Terry Sinead Mooney, Surrey County Council's Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, said its aim "has always been to work constructively with CCS on a smooth transition away from our contract and involvement with them."The move means that from Monday CCS would no longer have been providing unpaid carers with funded respite the charity's supporters have stepped in to give it an "unexpected financial boost" of £250,000, meaning it can carry on providing vital assistance for its existing clients up until 30 November this year."We know just how vital these respite breaks are for carers' mental and physical health," said Mr Hawkins."We also know that at such a difficult time, the loss of this service will undoubtedly place an even greater burden on the already stretched GPs and hospitals across the county." "So, while it's deeply disappointing to see the council walk away from their commitment, this has given us the means to do the right thing and we are incredibly grateful." Ms Mooney added: "We're pleased that Crossroads Care Surrey has confirmed they will honour their agreements with carers by continuing to offer replacement care for those with remaining hours, following the end of the council's contract. "These wellbeing breaks are provided under agreements made directly between Crossroads and each carer. "We listened to carers and the findings of an independent review and introduced a new approach to carer wellbeing support which puts choice and control back in the hands of carers."This new offer – a £300 payment on a pre-paid card which gives carers complete flexibility over their wellbeing breaks - has the potential to benefit many more carers across Surrey," she said. "Tens of thousands of people across Surrey support their vulnerable loved ones and we're absolutely committed to reaching as many as we can. "I would urge any carer who received the previous carer break offer to contact the county council's information and advice service directly to discuss their options."
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Haywards Heath man who nearly died in bike crash to cycle 957 miles
A man from West Sussex who nearly died after colliding with a hearse on a bike ride is preparing to cycle 957 miles (1,540km) for Humphrey, from Haywards Heath, had a near fatal accident two years ago but is getting back on the saddle on Sunday in the London-Edinburgh-London bike ride to raise money for the charity Sussex Cancer was rushed to hospital by the hearse driver after the crash and remembers saying to him that "if I didn't make it to hospital, he could at least fast track me to the morgue!".Mr Humphrey is hoping to raise £1 for every mile he cycles during the event, which takes place over five days. 'So much pain' Mr Humphrey was involved in the serious cycling accident in cycling down Ditchling Beacon, the traffic had stopped and he rode straight into the back of a hearse. When he came around, he could neither stand nor breathe properly and the hearse driver rushed him to hospital in the back of his joked: "It would have been funny if I hadn't been in so much pain."I can look back now and laugh, but there was an empty coffin in the hearse, and I half wondered if I might end up in it." Mr Humphrey is raising money for the charity in aid of his friend, Cliff Ketteridge, who died of a brain tumour in 2021. He added: "Sussex Cancer Fund helped Cliff and his wife Dawn in so many ways. "They're a small charity but they do so much, including funding key research and helping to equip hospitals with vital equipment."
