Staff at Salisbury District Hospital have come up with a novel way of making money by launching their own moisturising cream.
The venture is one of the first of its kind within the NHS and profits made from the sale of the cream will go back to support patient care at the hospital.
Known as My Trusty Little Sunflower Cream, the product was first developed 20 years ago by pharmacists and clinical scientists to help with post-operative skin care in burns and plastic surgery. It has been used on patients ever since in many clinical areas, and sold onsite to patients who asked for it to be made available after their discharge.
But now it has now been repackaged in 100ml tubes and will be on sale over the counter in the hospital’s pharmacy, in the League of Friends sweet shop, in the staff club, and at the cashier’s office. It is also available through a new website www.sunflowercream.com.
Malcolm Cassells, director of finance and procurement at the hospital, said: “We are sure that people will find it a very attractive product for many reasons. The cream contains 5% pure sunflower oil and has no parabens. The cream has not been tested on animals and comes in two varieties - unscented and lavender scented.”
The cream costs £6.99 per tube plus postage and packaging.
Cassells said: "The launch of MyTrusty Little Sunflower Cream is another exciting opportunity for Salisbury District Hospital to share one of its innovations with a much wider population. We know the cream is really liked and is beneficial to patients and staff, so making this available to more people is great news. At the same time the income generated will be very helpful in supporting patient care in the hospital."
