Lady Leonora, Countess of Lichfield, visits Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability for official ward opening
Lady Leonora, Countess of Lichfield, visits Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability for official ward opening
On 2 May 2023, Lady Leonora, Countess of Lichfield and President at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability (RHN), visited the hospital for a ribbon cutting ceremony in front of staff.
Other guests included RHN Vice President, Ruth Maxwell, and recently appointed Chairman Jane McCormick.
The ceremony marked the official opening of Leonora Ward following extensive renovations and expansion after a successful fundraising appeal which received gifts and donations from a number of trusts and foundations, as well as the public.
Named after Lady Leonora, Leonora Ward is the second respiratory unit at the RHN following the Jack Emerson Centre. The Jack Emerson Centre was the first specialist respiratory unit in the UK for patients requiring long term ventilator support. The ward works were undertaken in order to meet the increase of individuals requiring specialist long term ventilation and complex respiratory care.
The ward has been renovated to provide more beds with increased space for medical equipment, internal decoration and plaster work, installation of medical gasses and a new Nurse Call System. The ward also provides a range of leisure and recreational facilities, such as the MOTOmed Letto 2, a special exercise bike that fits over patients’ beds, offering bed-bound patients a chance to exercise to aid their recovery.
Work is currently underway in order to further expand the ward, which will increase the amount of bed spaces for patients requiring respiratory care from twenty-five to thirty-two.
Paul Allen, Chief Executive of the RHN said, “We are extremely proud of the work that has been put into the Leonora Ward expansion project and I am delighted that we have been able to grow our ventilation services at the RHN. The work done on Leonora Ward has been extremely successful and we look forward to completing the second stage of expansion, which will increase the ward’s capacity.”
“These new facilities will allow us to provide respiratory care for a higher number of people, with more space for medical equipment and a higher capacity for the excellent quality of care which the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability is committed to providing”.
