Donation of goods
Our Chelsea and Westminster Hospital site accepts a wide range of charitable donations of items for the benefit of our patients. Please note that all items must be:
- Delivered to the hospital by arrangement with our charity CW+ who will liaise with the correct department—they cannot be left at reception
- In a good state of repair (we cannot accept badly worn or broken items) and clean
- In the case of toys, they must be either new or good as new
Toys
The Play Service greatly appreciates the generous toy donations made by staff, patients and families. Here is a guide for what we are able to receive if you would like to donate toys for our Children's Services.
Infection control
It is important in a hospital that we stick closely to our infection control policy. This means we can only accept toys and books that can be wiped clean. We cannot accept any soft toys made from fabric—we prefer plastic toys that can be wiped easily.
Safety
All the toys we accept are thoroughly checked for safety. Before you make a donation please check that the toys you are giving are not broken in any way.
Size
We have limited storage space available so please contact our charity CW+ to check that we have space to store the toys you are wishing to donate.
Electronic resources
Only new electronic resources can be accepted. All electronic resources such as PlayStation or Nintendo would need to be organised and agreed in advance due to space provision.
Popular toys
We are grateful for all the toys that we receive, however, if you would like to make a donation but are unsure of what would be beneficial, below are some suggestions of very popular toys that are always in demand:
- Cars and trains
- Kitchen role play items
- Baby rattles
- DVDs (U or PG certificate only please!)
- Nintendo games (DS, Wii, GameCube)
- Musical toys
- Mobiles
- Interactive sound books
Who to contact
If you would like to leave a toy donation for the Play Service, please contact our charity CW+ on 020 3315 6600 or charity@cwplus.org.uk. Please call/email before bringing in a donation so we can ensure we have storage space and arrange a time to meet you.
Bric-a-brac
The Friends of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital hold a weekly bric-a-brac stall in aid of the hospital and welcome donations of items such as jewellery and china as long as they are in a good state of repair—please note that the Friends cannot accept clothes or electrical items.
If you have items you wish to donate please contact Richard Rooney on 020 3315 8827 to arrange a suitable time for delivery.
Books
The Friends of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital operate a lending library for patients which stocks a wide variety of books from popular fiction to biographies and reference books. If you have books that you would like to donate, please call 020 3315 8827.
The library, located on the lower ground floor of the hospital, is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 10am–2pm. The Friends also operate a mobile library which goes round to hospital wards.
Excess stock is sold at a popular weekly book stall which is held every Friday lunchtime on the ground floor of the hospital to raise funds.