In pictures: Illumina staff help provide emergency packs for families of children at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge

Emergency packs for families of children admitted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital for emergency specialist care have been funded by Illumina.

Staff began packing them, with the help of members of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT), on 21 November and were being delivered to Addenbrooke’s on Wednesday (27 November).

Each week it is estimated that at least one emergency care pack will be needed for each ward, totalling at least 364 packs a year. This funding will provide approximately 550 packs over 18 months.

Shelly Thake, chief executive of ACT, said: “We are extremely grateful to Illumina for funding the emergency care packs. When children are admitted in emergency situations they are often extremely poorly, and their families or carers simply don’t have time to even think about packing all the essentials before getting to hospital.

“Sometimes they come straight to hospital and arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs, to then have to think about going out to buy essentials when all they want to do is just be there with their child is just extremely stressful for the family.”