Supporting ScotSTAR

Thanks to your donations, Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity can continue supporting the amazing ScotSTAR team in 2023 by supplying soft blankets for when families must make stressful journeys by ambulance. 

The ScotSTAR team – which stands for Scottish Specialist Transport and Retrieval – are part of the wider Scottish Ambulance Service. They help transport critically ill babies and children up to 16 years of age.  

Their KingAir plane, EC145 helicopter and specialised paediatric ambulance transport some of the most vulnerable young patients in the country.

These children need intensive care as soon as possible, and for ScotSTAR, that means as soon as they are picked up. 

For their families, day-to-day life of managing their condition can be stressful enough – let alone an emergency journey to intensive care. 

The ScotSTAR team say the donated soft blankets ensure families on these journeys can latch on to a small piece of comfort in a difficult situation. 

Specialist nurse, Caroline Gilchrist said: “We retrieve children in all kinds of locations and situations.

“The blankets, donated by Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, are a lovely touch. They have been well-received by parents and staff, and keep the children nice and cosy.

Specialist nurse Caroline Gilchrist

“It’s a way of showing the whole family we’re thinking about them during a stressful time. 

“The blankets can become keepsakes for the patient and family to remember what they have been through. Also, families often don’t have the time to gather belongings, or may not have much to begin with, so the donated blankets are so important in those situations.”