Julie Frankland
Julie Frankland
24 April, 2025
News

Disaster survivor helps charity team fund vein mappers for burns unit

Burns Unit medics at the Royal Preston Hospital treating patients who need to have fluids and/or antibiotics via an intravenous drip, now have new equipment, funded by a survivor of the Abbeystead disaster, to make setting up the drip more comfortable.

Abbeystead disaster survivor John Holmes and his wife Christine (far left) present Marcia Roach from the Burns Unit (second right) and Lucy Clark, of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity, with part of the £36,302.42 donation for the Burns Unit that Mr Holmes raised on his two-day walk last May

The unit (Ward 4) has received two vein mappers from the team at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity, bought with money raised last year by Mr John Holmes to commemorate those who died or who were seriously burned in the 1984 tragedy. The vein mappers will help medical staff cannulate patients.

Ward manager Lea Cottle explained: “A cannula is a fine tube. It allows fluids and medicines to be delivered into the bloodstream via a drip.

Burns Unit sister Zelda Miller demonstrates how vein mappers can be hovered over the skin to show medics the location of veins below the surface to make putting burns patients on a drip or taking a blood sample a more comfortable procedure for the patient
Burns Unit sister Zelda Miller demonstrates how vein mappers can be hovered over the skin to show medics the location of veins below the surface to make putting burns patients on a drip or taking a blood sample a more comfortable procedure for the patient Credit: LTHTR Charity Team

“The cannula is inserted directly into a vein, usually in the arm or the back of the hand. It is inserted via a fine needle that is removed as soon as the cannula is in place. In burns patients, finding a good vein to cannulate can be more difficult because burn injuries cause fluid depletion. In turn, this can make the cannulation procedure potentially more painful and stressful for the patient.”

Lea continued: “Vein mappers, which are hand-held devices, when hovered over a patient’s hand or arm, use infrared technology to show staff where the veins are under the skin. They can help identify a “good vein”, making cannulation easier and more comfortable. Similarly, they can make taking blood samples less stressful.”

The cost of the vein mappers and two stands, which came to £8,345, was taken from a £36,302.42 donation made to Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity for the Burns Unit last year by Mr Holmes, who, to mark the disaster’s 40th anniversary last May (2024), undertook a two day sponsored walk from Silverdale Masonic Hall to Garstang Masonic Hall. Throughout the walk, Mr Holmes was joined by masonic family and friends.

Mr Holmes had been among 44 guests of the North West Water Authority, who had been taken to the valve house (pumping station) at Abbeystead to watch a demonstration of operations to alleviate flooding in St Michaels on Wyre.

He was inside the underground building when it blew up and filled with water. The explosion, later found to have been caused by a build-up of methane gas, killed 16 of those with him.

Charity team fundraiser Lucy Clark said: “We are very grateful to John for his fundraising for the Burns Unit, which at the time of the disaster, treated many of the most seriously injured. The vein mappers were requested by staff to make treatment more comfortable for current patients. Other projects using John’s donation are to follow.”

To find out more about the charity team’s work, go to www.lthcharity.org.uk