Work starts on hospital family hotel
WORK has begun at St George’s Hospital on a family ‘hotel’ that will offer free accommodation to parents of children needing inpatient medical care.
The centre, which is described as a ‘home away from home’, will cost over ?750k to build and is due to be completed by the end of the year.
The centre – a Ronald McDonald House – will contain eight family bedrooms with en-suite facilities, a lounge, playroom, kitchen, dining room and laundry.
Speaking at an event held on Tuesday 28 June to mark the construction of the House, Peter Homa, the Chief Executive of St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said:
“Many of the families seen by our children’s unit travel great distances at great cost to be with their children who are often suffering from very serious conditions or injuries that require long-term treatment.
“The financial, emotional and physical burden of travelling day in day out to the hospital soon takes its toll on families, especially those on low incomes.
“The new House should provide families with a measure of comfort that has sadly been missing from the accommodation we have offered them in the past.”
Construction of the House is being paid for by St George’s Hospital and the national Ronald McDonald Children’s Charity (RMCC), which was founded in 1989.
There are already Ronald McDonald Houses at Guy’s Hospital and King’s College Hospital in London. The House at St George’s will be the seventh to be built as part of a UK hospital.
Dr Simon Fradd, a Trustee of RMCC, said:
“St George’s Hospital provides wonderful care to children in great need, and the Ronald McDonald House will go some way towards providing support to the families of those children being treated as in-patients.
“RMCC is proud that it is able to make the lives of children and their families easier by helping to keep them together at the most difficult of times.”
Notes to editors
For RMCC:
Stuart Silk, RMCC Charity Manager, on 020 8700 7285 or stuart.silk@uk.mcd.com.
- RMCC (Ronald McDonald Children’s Charities) is a registered charity (No. 802047) that is separate from McDonalds, the company. The charity helps to provide accommodation for families of children needing inpatient medical care at hospitals and hospices throughout the UK. For more information about the charity, visit www.rmcc.org.uk.
- The Ronald McDonald House, Tooting will cost ?770k to build. Capital costs are being shared between RMCC (85%) and St George’s Hospital (15%).
- The design and content of the Ronald McDonald House, Tooting will not reflect or feature any merchandise, branding or promotional material of McDonalds.
