THE Countess of Chester Hospital has launched a £500,000 fundraising appeal.
Relative Comfort aims to provide overnight accommodation and counselling rooms for relatives and loved ones of critically-ill patients.
The appeal was launched at an event at Hoole Hall Hotel, Chester.
Hospital fundraising manager Kate Taylor said: “The aim is to provide two en-suite bedrooms as well as kitchen, lounge areas and two additional rooms for counselling and support.
“By providing a comfortable ‘home from home’ environment, relatives can return to the patient’s bedside at short notice, providing psychological and practical support when it is needed most.”
Richard Nelson, consultant anaesthetist on the hospital’s critical care unit, said: “When patients are sick they have two sets of carers, those who work for the hospital and those who knew and cared for them long before they ever became a patient.
“By fundraising and giving, you will provide some simple comforts for that second vital group of carers, the families and loved ones of some of the sickest patients in the hospital, those who watch, wait and hope.”
The hospital currently provides five beds in the intensive care unit and eight high dependency beds.
In 2004, the Trust established a growth in critical care as a strategic priority and is now combining the two wards and increasing the number of beds to 18.
The cost of building the new Critical Care Unit will be met from the trust’s capital programme.
Call the fundraising team on 01244 366240 for details.
