FAQ's
Why are you different from other charities that support
burn-injured children?
The Children’s Burns Foundation is quite unique, in that we don’t directly
provide a service for young people who have experienced burn injuries.
The Foundation believes that the treatment and rehabilitation opportunities
should come from a number of different approaches – together they will
help these children and their families realise that scars don’t limit the
rest of their lives.
This means that the Foundation is able to support a number of different
initiatives, such as research into the improvement of their clinical care,
psychological help to deal with the visual impact of their injuries, activity
breaks where they can meet other burn-injured young people and also
practical advice in managing their relationships with friends at school.
Why are burn injuries so special?
When a person is injured through heat – whether it’s by hot liquid or flame – the skin and underlying tissues are not only destroyed at the time of the trauma but may continue to be damaged by ongoing biological changes even once they receive clinical care. The scars left behind can be very upsetting and are a permanent visual reminder of a traumatic experience.
Very often, the damaged area needs to be treated with moisturizing creams on a daily basis for up to two years after the burn injury is sustained; pressure garments may also need to be worn on a continual basis – both these treatments are designed to effectively help in the physical recovery of the young person.
For young people who have been burn-injured, leaving hospital is just the beginning of what can be a difficult journey – their body has been scarred, they have to undergo daily treatments for a long period of time, they feel ‘different to the rest of their friends, their families may become over-protective. The ongoing care and support for burn-injured children and their families can continue for a long time after they are well enough to leave hospital.
How do you raise money?
Donations to the Children’s Burns Foundation comes from a number of different sources – from individuals who want to have been affected by burn injuries to organisations who want to make a real difference to the lives of hundreds of burn-injured young people.
So whether you’re sporty and want to add an extra reason to cross the finishing line of a run or you have family, friends and work colleagues who can all get together and arrange your own fundraising challenge, please join forces with the Foundation.
Why doesn’t the NHS provide these services?
The NHS does fantastic work with burn-injured young people – in fact at Manchester’s new Children’s Hospital the Burns Unit has been designated a regional specialist centre. Over 450 children are treated here each year for burn injuries, with an additional 250 children cared for at the Outpatients Clinic, often referred by their local doctor.
Whilst the ongoing physical rehabilitation from a burn injury may take several years, and is carried out by highly experienced and committed NHS staff, sometimes it’s the scars you don’t see that need the most attention. That’s why the Children’s Burns Foundation is delighted to finance projects such as burns camps, where young people can get together and share their experiences – and their own support.
We also believe that the clinical treatment of burn injuries will only develop with more research – which is why we are looking to support a number of development programmes so that clinical staff are able to improve burns services in the future.
As we are not an NHS charity, we are able to approach a significant number of larger grant-giving organisations for funding. Our work isn’t limited to the NHS either – we work closely with other organisations such as the Fire Service and educational bodies to ensure that burn-injured young people receive the very best care they can – whenever they need it most.
