DONATIONS of £250,000 from grateful patients and families has helped replace more than 700 bedside armchairs, and other chairs, in Darlington Memorial Hospital.

County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust Charity welcomed the donations which have helped patients keep up and out of bed during the day.

Evidence suggests this promotes mobility and helps with recovery, and the new chairs have the latest back support and pressure-reducing cushions – as well as being easy to keep clean.

Some also have drop-down arms to help patients be transferred from bed to chair.

Executive director of nursing, Noel Scanlon, said: “Generous donations to our charity mean we have been able to buy very high quality chairs. Our blood transfusion and chemotherapy units chose to also have some recliners so their patients can relax during treatment while the children’s wards naturally opted for much smaller, stacking chairs.”

One of the first patients to use one of the new chairs was Donald Stelling, who was admitted with a broken arm, requiring surgery. The 82-year-old said:“I was leaning on a gate at our family farm in Etherley, near Bishop Auckland, when a cow unfortunately knocked it, causing my injury. The nurses and doctors are looking after me very well and I’m quite happy and comfortable sitting in this lovely new chair while the tests and assessments are done so I can have surgery.”