Chloe Mather, 18, a business student at Chesterfield College, will be skydiving next Monday (29^th May) to raise money for the Sheffield-based charity, Amy’s Retreat which helps families who have children suffering or recovering from cancer. The charity aims to fund much needed breaks for these families so they can spend time together away from the stress and heartache of everyday life.

Chloe was gifted the chance to skydive for her 18^th birthday and has decided to use this amazing opportunity to help others. She said:-

“Honestly I’m terrified but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. My dad bought the skydive for my 18^th birthday as he wanted me to have an experience that I would remember for a lifetime.”

The skydive will take place at Sibson Airfield in Peterborough, which will allow Chloe to jump from an eye-watering height of 15,000ft. Chloe said:-

“I saw the jump as a great opportunity to raise awareness of Amy’s Retreat as not many people have heard of them or know what they do. I’ve raised over £800 for the charity in the past and would love to continue fundraising for them.

“I chose to help Amy’s Retreat because they are a great charity which helps many families cope through these difficult times. It was during my Year 11 work experience placement at Sheffield Children’s Hospital for the Sick Children’s Trust that I first realised the importance of families spending time together. Part of my role was to support parents whilst their children were in hospital; this experience stuck with me and that’s why I have dedicated so much to bringing families together.”

You can find out more about Amy’s Retreat here www.amysretreat.org.uk  and donate to Chloe’s just giving page here  www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Chloe-Mather1

Chesterfield race driver Seb Perez is looking forward to this weekend (20-21 May) when he makes his way to Oulton Park where he’s back in his regular car for the next three rounds of the Michelin Ginetta GT4 Supercup Championship.

The 17 year old Motor Sports Association student who studies at Loughborough is in a strong position after the last two rounds and goes to the Cheshire circuit in 8th place in the championship.

Perez’s last outing in the JHR Developments G55 race car was at Donington Park over Easter weekend where he finished the weekend in ninth, tenth and 11th positions after some teething problems with the car.

Donington Park was Perez’s second full weekend out in the Ginetta Supercup car and a car that he is still getting to grips with gaining more experience every time out on track.

Donington was a tough weekend for Seb with mixed emotions and sadness both on and off track for Perez, to see his JHR Developments team mate and good friend, Billy Monger, involved in the horrific British Formula 4 crash.

Perez spoke about his friend Bill Monger:-

“It was a emotional weekend for me,my team and the whole motorsport family, He is a true hero and we are all so glad he is now out of hospital and wish him a speedy recovery”

Two weeks ago Perez was back on track at Thruxton in Hampshire, still supporting the British Touring Car Championship for two races in the Protyre Motorsport GT5 Challenge and swapping his car for a Ginetta G40, in a different race series of two this season, a smaller car similar to his junior car what he has raced in for the last two seasons.

He finished 4th in qualifying out of the 26 car line up, to find his times had been disallowed for exceeding track limits.

He started race one in 4th, a second row position to finish in 8th, after a good but challenging race,  race two saw him on the 4th row in 8th seeing him take the chequered flag in 13th place.

On to Oulton Park this weekend and is one of Seb’s favourate circuits.

Perez said:-

“I am really looking forward to Oulton Park this weekend, it’s a favourite of mine and cant wait to getting back into the G55, my usual race car that I enjoy racing in and there will be a lot of local support there for me.”

He added:-

“The last two rounds at Brands Hatch and Donington hadn’t gone entirely to plan but that’s racing, it’s always a learning curve and my team JHR Developments have worked well on the car during the last two rounds to sort out the problems.”

Perez has still a long way to go to the end of the season at the beginning of October.

Perez comes to Oulton Park at the weekend in 8th place after dropping 3 places at Donington in the Professional Driver class with 91 points and his team JHR Developments take a drop to second in the Team Championship with 201 points.

You can follow Seb and all the action on Sunday on ITV 4 where races are televised live alongside the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

Editorial and photography by Paul Horton

The Chesterfield Royal Hospital has become the first hospital in the region to offer new Mums ‘ Baby Boxes ’ for their newborn baby to aid safer sleep.

Baby Boxes are part of an educational package for new mums with the sole aim of encouraging safer sleeping. It provides the baby with a safe place to sleep, a secure mattress and comes with a waterproof mattress cover, a pack of baby grows and nappies to give babies a safe start in life. It is handed to new Mums as soon as they can show that they have completed the online training.

Margaret Dennett is a Midwife at the Royal and has been leading on bringing the scheme to the Royal, she said:-

“This initiative was introduced in Finland 75 years ago and the mortality rate amongst babies fell from 65 per thousand babies to less than three which is incredible. It’s such a simple concept aimed at teaching parents to provide a safe place for their baby to sleep.

“Once the parents leave the hospital with their new baby we can’t monitor them, we can only advise but with the Baby Box we can give each baby an equal start. We can’t know where a Moses Basket or mattress has come from, it could have been passed down from one child to another and not as clean as it should be. These boxes are easy to clean and disinfect, we know that the mattress is of a safe standard and we can be certain that we’re sending new parents and baby home with everything they need for a safe night’s sleep from the very first occasion.”

The Baby Boxes are a very recent addition to the UK and only a handful of Trusts in the country have so far taken up the concept. Cards explaining more about the boxes, what they are for and how to access the training will be handed out to ladies by midwives at 16 weeks. The training is straightforward and involves a number of educational videos followed by a short quiz; a certificate of completion can be printed off, handed to the Birth Centre and a Baby Box will be provided when they’re ready to go home with the new baby.

Margaret added:-

“I first saw this at a Royal College of Midwifery conference and was impressed by its simplicity and what it has achieved in Europe in terms of reducing mortality rates in young babies. I brought it back to show our Head of Midwifery and she agreed that we needed to look into it. We both love the idea and what it stands for and are delighted to be able to offer it to our new mums.

“It provides parents with a resource to look back on, the training pack can be accessed whenever they need it, and also peace of mind. We’re delighted to be a part of this and offer further support to parents to help keep their babies safe.”

More than 3,700 staff make up the team at Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and they’re celebrating today (May 17 2017) – with the fantastic news that their hospital has been awarded a ‘GOOD’ rating from the independent regulator of health and adult social care in England.

This means the Royal is one of 52 out of 174 acute NHS trusts nationally to have achieved ‘green’ in each of the five domains the Care Quality Commission (CQC) used to rate an NHS organisation.

The result follows a plan of improvement that staff across the hospital have worked on since the CQC’s initial visit in 2015, when it was given a ‘requires improvement’ rating for some aspects of its services.

Simon Morritt, Chief Executive of the Royal, explains:-

“There are thousands of individuals working here to provide high-quality patient care and services. Everyone one of them plays a vital role as part of a 3,700 strong team. This rating is their success and we are absolutely delighted for them.  Through their commitment and support they’ve taken positive action to make a difference – and have proved our hospital deserves to be ‘GOOD’. I congratulate and thank all of them for the contribution they have made to this result.”

Professor Sir Mike Richards, the Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said:-

“Overall, Chesterfield Royal Hospital provides good care to the population that it serves. Since our inspection in April 2015, the trust has made significant improvements to ensure there was a positive culture change and they’ve had a focus on wanting to improve the quality and safety of the care being delivered to patients.”

In its report about the hospital the CQC highlights the fact that staff teams and the Board of Directors invite patients in to the hospital to talk about their first-hand experiences (good and bad) – in order to help improve care and services and share good practice.  These stories have had a real impact – helping teams and directors to see care differently and from the patients’ perspective.  New ways of working, changes to clinical practice and better patient information are just some examples of how listening to patients in this way leads to positive improvements.

The report also commends the hospital for its leadership – and describes how people work together effectively, with a clear vision of what they want the hospital to achieve, as well as understanding what risks the organisation faces.

There was one particular area the Care Quality Commission wanted to see improve – and that was the response rate and results of the hospital’s national NHS Staff Survey.

Mr Morritt says:-

“We completely agree with this recommendation.

“We not only want to be known for providing great care to patients, but as a great place for our staff to work – and we are already working to make sure this happens.  Staff concerns about some parts of our leadership structure, about having the ability to act on ideas and about having the ability to speak our freely are being addressed. Over the next few months we’ll see a huge push on staff engagement so everyone has the opportunity to contribute their ideas to improved patient care.”

“We hope staff feel proud that they have been responsible for taking Chesterfield Royal Hospital from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘GOOD’.  It brings our Trust’s ambition to achieve the CQC’s ‘outstanding’ rating one step closer – and with their continued support we will get there.”