A HEALTH charity has used generous donations from patients to help replace more than 700 bedside armchairs in its hospitals.

One of the first patients to use one of the new chairs provided by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust Charity was Donald Stelling after he suffered a broken arm while working on his farm, at Etherley, near Bishop Auckland.

The 82-year-old said: "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.”

Executive director of nursing, Noel Scanlon, said: “Generous donations to our charity mean we have been able to buy very high quality chairs. We ordered a range of chairs so that wards could have those most appropriate for their patients. The bedside chairs, for example, come in various heights so most wards ordered a selection.

"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.”

Anyone who would like to make a donation to support the work of the charity should call the team on 01325-743781 to discuss different ways of doing so.