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A hospital has received 12,000 hats for babies after appealing for knitwear online

Staff at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton said they were “incredibly grateful” for the hats which will help prevent hypothermia in new-borns.
Staff at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton said they were “incredibly grateful” for the hats which will help prevent hypothermia in new-borns. Staff at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton said they were “incredibly grateful” for the hats which will help prevent hypothermia in new-borns.

A hospital’s appeal for knitwear has received a bigger response than they ever could have hoped for.

Midwives at George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, made a Facebook appeal all the way back in February asking for baby hats for new-borns.

And a few months later the keen knitters out there had responded in their droves – the hospital received 12,000 knitted hats.

The Facebook post reached 800,000 people, meaning that knitwear arrived from places as far away as Australia – while one bag of goods was dropped off by a girl born at the hospital 11 years ago.

The hats are given to babies soon after birth to prevent the risk of hypothermia as they adapt to life, and temperatures, outside of the womb.

And with the deluge of support the hospital now has enough hats to last six years.

“We are incredibly grateful to everyone who was part of this wonderful response and are stunned at the number of hats that have arrived. Our appeal really caught the imagination of knitters across the country, of all ages and abilities,” Alison Talbot, head of midwifery at the GEH NHS Trust, said.

One of the donations (GEH)
One of the donations (GEH)
One of the donations (GEH)

But even after calling for an end to donations hats are still trickling in.

“We certainly have enough hats for the time being. We’re running out of storage space and our babies are now all very cosy!” Talbot said.

Any that continue to come in will be offered to other nearby maternity units.