Homerton: GE A London 2012 Sponsor - Pledges legacy gift for Homerton hospital in East London

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GE A London 2012 Sponsor - Pledges legacy gift for Homerton hospital in East London

29 June 2009

GE announces first UK commitment to healthymagination business strategy

London 29 June 2009 – GE, a worldwide partner of the Olympic Games, has today announced plans to donate £4.8 million ($8 million) worth of medical equipment, including foetal monitors, incubators and MR scanner, to Homerton University Hospital in Hackney, East London.

The pledge will enhance the hospital’s care of premature and sick babies. It will further help reduce infant mortality rates across the Borough of Hackney in East London and make a significant contribution to the Government’s policy agenda on maternal and infant care. The pledge is also the first UK example of GE’s healthymagination strategy launched on 7th May to make healthcare technology more accessible and more affordable for all.

Says Jeff Immelt, Chairman & CEO of GE: “As a partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympics, GE is committed to helping London deliver a sustainable legacy, a key promise of the London bid. With 19,000 employees based here, as well as GE Healthcare’s global headquarters, the UK continues to be an important market for investment by GE. Our medical technology helps people to lead better, healthier lives. Working in partnership with healthcare providers, our goal is to reduce costs, increase access and improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare in the UK and throughout the world.

“As one of the designated Olympic hospitals, it is fitting that Homerton Hospital should be the beneficiary of our legacy donation. We have decided to focus on Maternal and Newborn Care to address a major local issue, which will help to create a brighter future for the people of East London for generations to come, while also helping to address a topic of national importance to the NHS.”

Says Nancy Hallett, Trust Chief Executive for Homerton Hospital: “We are delighted to accept this very generous donation from GE which will provide an important addition to our new perinatal centre at the hospital. The infant mortality rates in our local communities are among the highest in the country. By giving us access to some of the latest equipment, our maternity and neonatal teams will be able to provide state of the art services in a new, modern environment for expectant mothers and their newly born babies throughout all stages of the child bearing process from the earliest scans through to labour, delivery and post delivery.”

Approximately one in nine new born babies requires some form of specialist hospital care in the UK, equating to around one every six minutes ; improving Maternal and Infant Care is a major priority for the Department of Health. GE Healthcare has been working closely with policy makers over the past few years to inform the Government’s strategy - in particular to develop guidelines on prenatal care. All mothers are now entitled to two ultrasound scans during pregnancy enabling possible complications to be identified ahead of time. This is especially valuable given moves to enable more women to give birth at home as it will ensure that high-risk patients are given access to specialist care at the appropriate time.

GE Healthcare is also helping to address gaps that exist in relation to Maternity IT systems as identified by the Healthcare Commission in 2008 – critical to the effective management of the Maternity Care Pathway.

The high-tech equipment is designed to enhance all aspects of maternal and infant care at Homerton Hospital, by providing clinicians with some of the very latest, most technically advanced equipment to improve patient outcomes. Products such as the UK’s market leading VOLUSON E8 obstetrics ultrasound system will help detect fetal abnormalities earlier and allow for earlier intervention, and the Discovery 1.5T MR450 neonatal magnetic resonance system provides detailed structural and functional information about the newborn’s brain.

Another key addition to the ward is a neonatal incubator. An incubator is one of the most important lines of defence in improving infant mortality rates. During the birthing process, an infant’s body temperature drops quickly once outside the controlled environment of the mother's womb. Without the physiological mechanisms to fight off cold, the availability of warmth is the first line to survival for the newborn. The Giraffe Omnibed helps to reduce the amount of unnecessary handling of very low birth weight premature babies, which can otherwise have a detrimental effect on their well being.

Comments Paul Deighton, CEO, London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG): “We applaud GE’s donation – which is one of the first examples of a tangible legacy left by a corporate sponsor beyond the 2012 Games. This is what Olympic Legacy is all about – giving the people of East London access to world class facilities on their door step – in this case healthcare – which will help improve lives for generations to come.”

Tessa Jowell, Minister for the Olympics, said:
“GE’s generous donation goes straight to the heart of our legacy ambitions by bringing life-changing benefits to the people of East London that will live on well beyond the 2012 Games. The potentially life-saving technology being contributed by GE will have a significant impact on the health and well-being of new babies and mums in East London for generations to come.”
It is expected that the new perinatal centre at Homerton Hospital will open in early 2011.

-Ends-

Note to editors

GE and London 2012
GE is the exclusive provider of a wide range of innovative products and services that are integral to staging a successful Olympic Games. GE works closely with host countries, cities and organizing committees to provide infrastructure solutions for Olympic venues including power, lighting, water treatment, transportation and security, and to supply hospitals with ultrasound and MRI equipment to help doctors treat athletes. In addition, NBC Universal, a division of GE, is the exclusive U.S. media partner of the Olympic Games, with its partnership also extending through 2012.

Details of the Homerton Legacy Donation
GE is donating a range of equipment designed to reduce maternal and infant mortality and improve the general standard and efficiency of care including: Performance solutions (Workflow planning, Design optimization), MR scans (maternal and neonatal), Obstetric Ultrasound, Patient and Fetal Monitoring, Anaesthesia delivery, a recovery suite, monitors for a Neonatal ITU, Material Infant Care IT solutions, Incubators with an integrated MR capability, Ventilators and infection control equipment.

About Homerton University Hospital
Homerton Hospital is an NHS foundation trust based in the east London Borough of Hackney. The hospital provides general hospital services to Hackney and the City of London, and a range of specialist services, including specialist obstetrics, fetal medicine and neonatology, for across east London and beyond. The Homerton is one of the capital’s designated Level 3 Neonatal Intensive Care Units, providing for the needs of the most vulnerable babies.

Infant mortality rates in the Hackney community have improved but remain above the National average (at 6.5 per 1,000 live births), reflecting high health need in the population. In Hackney, every day, one baby is born weighing less than 2.5kg.

Work completes early next year on a new £8million Mother and Baby Centre at the Homerton. The GE Legacy will be based in the Centre.

The Homerton is the nearest hospital to the 2012 Olympic Park and is the designated Olympic hospital.

About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.

About GE in the UK
With operations in the UK since the 1930s, GE's businesses here have seen accelerated growth in recent years. GE continually invests in its businesses and in innovative technology that can meet the needs of its customers and society, particularly in the energy, transportation and healthcare sectors. GE employs 19,000 people in the UK and is based in more than 45 major locations, from Aberdeen to Truro and from Cardiff to Cambridge.