Jun 20th 2024
Stars Appeal supporters enjoyed a private view of Salisbury Hospital’s new Imber Ward which has been furnished and equipped by the charity.
Around 100 guests were invited for a special tour of the new facilities before the ward welcomed its first patients. Former racing driver and TV presenter Tiff Needell, who is a patron of the Stars Appeal, also attended the event, which was held last month.
The Stars Appeal, Salisbury Hospital’s Charity, has provided funding of £600,000 for equipment, including the latest patient monitoring system, furnishings and artwork to create a state-of-the-art, dementia-friendly environment. The construction of the ward has been funded by a £14m grant from NHS England.
Much of the Stars Appeal funding has been made possible thanks to the legacy gifts of those who have so kindly remembered the charity in their Wills. This generosity has been recognised in a special plaque at the entrance of Imber Ward.
One of the legators who has been recognised at Imber Ward is Pamela Joan Joy. Her husband Richard, pictured above with Nurse Consultant and Stars Appeal Ambassador James Lee and Tiff Needell, attended and spoke at the event and said Pamela’s legacy was “helping the many not the few” and praised the new ward.
Mr Joy says: “I am completely and utterly bowled over by what I have seen here at Imber Ward. It is wonderful. I am so proud of what Pam did and what all the other legators have done to create this project.”
Imber Ward is the biggest capital development at the Hospital in nearly 20 years. It provides 24 additional beds, featuring a mix of four-bed bays and side rooms, that enable elderly patients recovering from surgery to be cared for in a dedicated space tailored to their needs.
Nurse Consultant in Elderly Care and Stars Appeal Ambassador James Lee says: “What the Stars Appeal has been able to achieve here, through support from local people, will provide the care, the hope and the energy our patients need to recover quicker and get back to their homes and back to their loved ones.
“We’ve been able to create a truly dementia-friendly space with an enhanced environment that over the years to come will benefit tens of thousands of older patients along with their families and the staff that will work here.”
“Much of the funding the Stars Appeal has provided has come from local people who are sadly no longer here with us, but whose legacy lives on within this ward through them having so kindly remembered our hospital charity in their Wills,” he adds.
“We are proud to be able to recognise many of those people who, over recent years, have so generously remembered the Stars Appeal and the Hospital in their Wills. As you come into the ward, on your right-hand side, there is a plaque bearing their names, and recognising our many anonymous donors.
“This new ward and many of the advancements that we’ve had at the hospital in the last 20 years wouldn’t have happened without them.”
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