Hike for your Hospitals this summer!

Today we're launching a new walking challenge, to raise money for patients and staff at Nottingham’s NHS hospitals.

Our Hike for your Hospitals campaign is a sponsored walk with a difference. Each walker or group of walkers can choose their own challenge – whether it’s a big 10-mile hike, or a few shorter walks over a period of several days or weeks.

Hike for your Hospitals is family-friendly and flexible – you can walk, stroll or hike wherever and whenever suits you, and the money you raise will go towards supporting patients and staff in your chosen area of Nottingham’s hospitals. You can even fit it into your daily routine, perhaps leaving the car at home and walking to work one day a week.

Choose your walking challenge

Fozia Naushahi is a research nurse at Nottingham Hospitals and took on a walking challenge to help raise money for Nottingham Hospitals Charity. Fozia and her husband Anjum Naushahi set themselves the target of walking a combined total of one million steps over the course of a month.

She said: “My husband and I chose to do a one million step challenge because we wanted to raise money for the hospital, and it was also an opportunity to push ourselves to keep fit and lose some weight. Both myself and my husband average around 7,000 to 8,000 steps each in a normal working day, and this challenge pushed us to do twice the amount of walking per day and also on the weekend.”

Talking about why she wanted to raise money to help patients at Nottingham Hospitals, Fozia explained: “Last year, my allocated research trials were paused due to coronavirus, and I was re-deployed to support the Covid-19 research trials team. Whilst supporting, I witnessed patients’ suffering from Covid, it is very debilitating disease. I was really sad to see their suffering and wanted to do something to help these patients.

“I always wanted to do something for a worthwhile cause for the community and I feel that raising money for the hospitals charity is worth supporting.”

Louise Knight, Head of Fundraising at Nottingham Hospitals Charity, said: “Over the past year, with little else to keep us occupied, many of us have developed a love of walking. Now that we’re able to get outdoors more due to the warmer weather and the easing of lockdown restrictions, it’s the perfect time to join together with family or friends, take a stroll or a hike, and raise money to support patients and staff at your local hospitals at the same time.”