New wards open doors
6:04am Wednesday 27th August 2008
New hospital wards for the elderly, costing more than £4m, have opened in Oxford after an 18-month refurbishment.
Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Trust has transformed the old children's wards at the John Radcliffe Hospital into a new geratology department following the closure of the Radcliffe Infirmary in January last year.
Although the transfer meant the loss of 100 beds, the new accommodation is expected to help patients over 65 recover more quickly, allowing them to return home sooner and freeing up beds for new admissions.
Doctors hope the 40 en suite rooms will reduce the spread of infections and preserve patients' privacy and dignity.
Nurse Ann Readhead, who has been leading a £225,000 campaign to fund extra patients' amenities, described the two new wards as "beautiful".
She said: "Patients and relatives absolutely love them. Everything is new and colour coordinated, sparkling and clean."
Patient Irene Kurtz, 75, of Divinity Road, Oxford, who suffers from bi-polar depression, added: "The rooms are comfortable and elegant. Everybody seems very content. They are ideal for the older person - it's just what's needed and in many ways I will be sorry to go home."
Mrs Readhead has raised £125,000 to pay for a rooftop sensory garden for elderly patients.
She said: "The garden will allow patients to take time out from the ward and get a breath of fresh air."
Charlotte Devlin, 32, from Charlton-on-Otmoor, and her family helped raise £10,000 for the garden by organising a garden party at Bruern Abbey, near Burford, in June.
Mrs Devlin's grandmother, Dorothy Quainton, was a patient at the Radcliffe Infirmary and the family wanted to say thank-you to the nurses who looked after her before she died.
Mrs Devlin said: "The garden will give patients some sense of normality."