Inverness Common Good Fund 2025 Funding

The Archie Foundation is delighted to announce the continued support of the Inverness Common Good Fund, who have agreed to contribute towards our vital Emergency Support programme in the coming months.

To help children and families within the Highland Children’s Unit in Inverness, we provide a vital programme of support, reaching as many struggling families as we can, in very desperate times. We support neonatal and paediatric healthcare in Inverness, from birth (including  babies born too sick or too soon) to adulthood. We also support children who have suffered the loss of a parent or loved one through Archie’s Child Bereavement Service.

Archie’s Emergency Support programme is a vital service providing local families with:

• Travel costs to and from hospital, to help ensure all children can access the healthcare support they need. Travel costs also apply to parents who are juggling being there for a child in hospital while also being there for other children at home – an impossible task.
• Emergency overnight accommodation, for parents who have a child they need to be with 24/7. Also available when a child is transferred to another hospital for specialist treatment.
• Support with household bills when their child is in hospital, and they are off work, so they can be with them (unpaid leave).
• Hot meals and drinks within the hospital and at their child’s bedside.
• Fresh clothing and pyjamas for children admitted in an emergency.
• Essential toiletries for children arriving without even the basics.

For many years now, our Emergency Support programme has become a vital service that families absolutely rely on from The Archie Foundation, as well as now becoming the most demanded funding programme we provide as a charity.

Alleviating the impact of poverty and financial hardship through our Emergency Support programme will ensure equal access to healthcare for all children, regardless of their socioeconomic background, by funding travel costs to and from hospital for financially disadvantaged families.

It will reduce the impact felt by financially disadvantaged families, when faced with the additional costs of supporting a child with healthcare needs (including hospital admission), by providing immediate emergency support, to help them with any unexpected costs such as food and accommodation and preventing them falling into debt due to their child’s hospital stay.

It will also improve parity in regard to personal dignity and quality of life for children while in hospital; by helping provide the means to purchase clean pyjamas and essential toiletries their families may not otherwise be able to afford.

This funding from the Inverness Common Good Fund will make such an incredible difference, making sure we will be able to continue our vital support for local babies, children and their families when they need it most.