Hannah Ingram-Moore -Victim or Villain?

[MrsImFedUpOfTheWeather]

I'm inclined to think we've been scammed. Am I being unreasonable?

I suspect the original Capt. Tom campaign got overtaken by events - he sets out to raise a grand for the NHS (probably didn't really think about exactly which route he'd funnel it through- probably had vague idea he'd give it to his local hospital). Then it becomes some huge thing with GBP39m and national interest/ donor base. The only real option is the NHS Charities Together because that has national scope and can absorb GBP39m and distribute it quickly.

The NHS fundraising landscape is quite confusing as there's NHS Together and then some hospitals have their own charities (GOSH/Royal Marsden). Equipment etc tends to be bought through appeals by these location -specific charities. I can see why people feel it didn't go where they expected it to but I dont think it's fraudulent- AFAIK the original 38m did go to support the NHS through NHS Together.

Where Hannah doesn't come across v well is trying to continue it afterwards. They should have just left it as a one off campaign that raised a lump sum, donated it and had basically zero costs. It's unclear what the purpose was after that.

In the 80s Russ Abbot (popular comedian) released a terrible song about parties with a happy atmosphere. Worth a look on YouTube. It definitely belongs back in the 80s 🤣

Sorry- my point is that if, at inception, he'd realised he was going to raise 39 million then he'd hopefully have given more thought to exactly how to distribute it most meaningfully. However, once he'd said "I'm doing this walk for NHS Charities" and the donations were rolling in, he couldn't then change the charity, as that would have been fraudulent. They also (as individuals) had no experience, time or staffing to act as a grant making foundation and consider applications on a merit basis, which is why it made sense just to stick with the original plan to give it as an unrestricted donation to NHS Charities Together. However, to then change tack and become a grant making foundation when you've just made a 39 million unrestricted donation makes no sense, when they only raised a further 1 million in the next year.

This is certainly true where I work - I also questioned it among colleagues. We had well being boxes last year and they were an utter waste of money.

If there was a genuine need, I'm pretty sure the nurses would have preferred the equipment than the chocolates. If this had have been a 'crisis' it wouldn't have been a question. It clearly wasn't though, because covid is less deadly than flu. And the Government knew this all along.

Would you have been happier if your money had gone to all those make shift hospitals they set up that were a total waste if money because they couldn't staff them?

It was very clear that it was going to NHS charities from the start

An independent body should be controlling it.

I cannot believe the vitriol I am hearing, that people honestly think nhs clinical staff, especially those working in urgent or acute services, do not deserve a cup of tea and a mars bar. On a 12 or even 18 hour shift in A&E, when often there is barely time for a glass of water let alone a sit down and a cuppa, when they are doing everything they can with limited staffing, space, time, to save the lives of people you love, do you really begrudge your charity donation going towards food and drink?

As someone previously said, these staff members have paid for parking or transport to work, they pay inflated prices in the canteen or a vending machine (if they are lucking enough to have 5 minutes to do so) for anything food and drink they haven’t brought from home. They provide their own tea bags, milk, etc for the staff rooms. The kettle and microwave is often broken, the chairs are ripped, the cleaner has left so no ones emptied the bin for a week, something is broken but estates were called 3 weeks ago and still haven’t been.

They are working over their rota’d hours and so probably not being paid, perhaps because the next staff member is sick, late, quit, caught up with an emergency in the car park.

They owe thousands in student loans they took out to do this training.

They are not having a fucking cream tea like they are on holiday in Devon. They deserve a mars bar, or even a massage if they are damn lucky enough to find time to have one.

I know this was not the original point of the post but I could not walk away without sharing my absolute disgust at some of the comments I have read here about nhs staff getting any of the very small and very rare benefits that have been referenced.

i never fully grasped why people donated to this in the first place - the NHS is NOT a charity and is funded by the government / taxpayer so I never donated !!

👏👏👏 could not agree with you more

I see how broken the staff are when I see my family members who are both doctors and nurses. I don’t think the public really know how bad it is. Many are too busy bitching about them having a donated Mars bar

Cant believe the posts saying I thought my donation was going on a respirator not a bunch of snacks from Costco. It doesn’t matter, it all kept the NHS ticking over when it was needed most

You are naughty .... but sometimes funny is bloody funny

It's an amazing song - I walked down the aisle to it at my wedding 😂 (and not in the 80s either)

Some seriously hard of thinking and reading people on this thread isn't there?

There was an NHS donation stand in my local Morrisons during covid. My sister was made redundant quite early on so helped out as a volunteer.

Donations were either cash or products. They were very clear this was to support the staff and patients so donations were used to make up care packages for patients because nobody could get up to visit and give them what the needed like basic toiletries, snacks etc

They were also clear that some of the cash would go to the staff for pizza’s, snacks, soft drinks etc to say thank you for their efforts

They were so overwhelmed by support as people just wanted to do something. I think that’s why CT raised so much - people felt so helpless they wanted to do their bit and things like that was something to grab onto

I watched it on You Tube earlier. He looked about 55 in the video but I checked and he was only in his 30s 🤯

Me too! I donated like many others before the ''First Million'' and it went absolutely nuts .
I'd rather have given to a more worthy cause - she is s greedy profiteering grabby opportunist ~ Shameless woman in my opinion.

Agreed and the fact is that anyone could have googled NHS Charities Together and seen what their remit is before donating (caveat: unless the website didnt exist in 2020 in its present form). If I'm honest, would I have donated based on their remit? Probably not because I see the potential for absolutely massive waste and I prefer more tangible spend, but I don't think the sentiment was necessarily wrong or in any way dodgy.

I think it's important to separate the current shenanigans (Capt Tom Foundation) which is at best, badly managed, and at worst, fraudulent, from the original NHS appeal which was just a product of its time and seems to have been reasonably transparent and in good faith.

It is a huge amount to end up in unrestricted donations (which means the charity is not required to track or account for expenditure by line item or initiative) but that's just a case of the whole thing exploding in popularity and becoming much bigger than they envisaged.

Russ Abbott and Dick Van Dyke were my first crushes

There's a photo somewhere of Captain Tom with Russ Abbott and (I think) Cliff Richard in Barbados.

Cliff Richard I can understand, sort of, I know he lives in Barbados, but where the fuck did Russ Abbott come from? 🤣

I love how weirdly random that photo is!

Found it

And there we go, the truth behind the thread. You object to your money being spent on staff welfare because it wasn't actually that bad anyway.

You took a while to get there though, well done on your restraint.

@Nottslady I agree with what you have written. There is no point in having new high tech equipment if there are not enough staff to operate it because they have left due to stress and burnout.

@MrsImFedUpOfTheWeather I don't think anyone should feel bad about giving money to Captain Tom (as opposed to the Captain Tom Foundation). There was so much media pressure to donate and the money he raised helped the NHS at a time of pressure. However, donors get very little say in how money raised through these high profile campaigns gets spent. Some charities do allow donors to specify how they want their donations to be used which is why it's often more satisfying to stick to a particular charity or charities.

people need to remember what it was like - it was just a big wave of hype with people jumping on the “Captain Tom” bandwagon and donating money “for the NHS”. people just wanted to be involved and donate and weren’t bothered about the small print and where the money would actually end up. so it’s a bit rich to be complaining now about where the money went if no research was done at the time. i remember it being said the money couldn’t be spent on frontline services etc so info was out there

my hospital for example got a garden space for patients and staff. and if some money got spent on making life / work a bit nicer for NHS staff i have no bother with that - it was a horrible time. i expect some people think that banging a pan on their doorstep once a week was adequate thanks for nhs staff and god forbid any money was spent on anything practical to help 🤷‍♀️

I think her DH is in it as well. He is a trustee of the charity! In a properly run charity that’s already a red flag (one family member CEO, the spouse the trustee). Wasn’t he a director of 60 companies and most of them went bust? I think they are both grifters.

just remember when she stood at Wimbledon to receive applause 😳😵‍💫

Yes it’s called the Charity Commission and there is an investigation and they can’t receive further donations at this stage.

I saw a BBC report where it was described as the village school. We also recognised the actual location and were in hysterics. I think I even posted on mumsnetabout it at the time.