By MARIE LEVY
TEESSIDE parents today welcomed the unveiling of plans for the North-east’s first specialist children’s hospital – a pounds 100m facility set to revolutionise children’s care in the region.
Due for completion in 2010, the state-of-the-art hospital at the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) in Newcastle is being dubbed a Great Ormond Street for the North.
Children like Acklam teenager Cameron Gibb, who suffers from a one-in-a-million bone condition, will benefit from the groundbreaking facility. Cameron’s mum Claire said having all the specialist services under one roof will be “very valuable” for parents.
The hospital will bring together all the region’s groundbreaking children’s services, including the heart transplant team from the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle General’s “bubble baby” unit – one of only two in the UK – and cancer experts from the RVI. The centre of excellence will house the widest range of children’s services outside of London and is designed to be as far removed from a traditional hospital environment as possible.
Every bedroom will let in maximum natural light while coloured, curved corridors will eradicate the feeling of long walkways.
It will accommodate 245 in-patients with 75% of its bedrooms designed for single occupancy and equipped with en-suite bathrooms and guest beds to allow parents to rest close to their child when they are most needed. The rooftop will feature a penthouse for teenage cancer patients and there will also be an atrium, outside courtyard, play area and a 50-seat cinema.
Georgina Curtis, 27, of Nunthorpe, whose daughter Emily, seven, is fighting germ cell cancer and has to travel to Newcastle for chemotherapy, said: “It sounds brilliant. I just wish it was open now.
“We have just spent a week on ward 16 in a cubicle because there are not enough separate rooms.”
Karen Harrison, 32, of NewMarske, lost her daughter Jessica to kidney cancer last year. The seven-year-old spent many weeks at the RVI during her brave two-year battle. She said: “It will be fantastic for the kids. The hospitals do look like hospitals at the moment so anything that brightens them up and makes them more comfortable is a good thing.”
Samantha Smith, 34, of Marton Grove, watched her daughter Louisa McGregor-Smith become the youngest baby ever to survive on an artificial heart machine last year when the tiny tot’s heart failed at just three months old and she was rushed to the Freeman Hospital. She said: “It’s a fantastic idea. It will be more child friendly.”
Dr Stephen Singleton, chairman of The Children’s Foundation and regional director of public health, said: “The new children’s hospital will be a fantastic resource for the whole region.”
Dr Mohammed Kibirige, consultant paediatrician at the James Cook University Hospital, said: “This is excellent news. We have finally agreed that children need to be seen in an environment designed for their specific needs.”
Join in the name game
TEESSIDERS are being asked to help pick a name for the new children’s hospital.
The three shortlisted names are:
The Greenhouse Children’s Hospital
Northern Lights Children’s Hospital
The Great North Children’s Hospital
To vote, visit www.hospitalvote.co.uk or text “HOSPITAL” to 60999 followed by the keyword of your favourite name: GREENHOUSE, LIGHTS or GREAT. Alternatively votes can be posted to PO Box 2YB, Queen Victoria Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE9 92Y. Votes close at midnight on July 2.
Voters are also urged to make donations via the same website to The Children’s Foundation. Donations will be used to fund a range of facilities at the new hospital from special interactive therapies to creative play schemes.
(c) 2008 Evening Gazette – Middlesbrough. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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