New Children’s Centre for Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup
31 March 2017
Local representatives joined Teresa O’Neill, Leader of Bexley Borough Council and Andy Trotter, Chair of Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust, to celebrate the official opening of Acorns, the new, purpose built children’s centre at Queen Mary’s Hospital.
Acorns provides a ‘one stop shop' and single point of access for children and families in Bexley - a place where they are able to access all specialist children's services under one roof. These include physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, dietetics, children and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), audiology and more.
Acorns was developed and designed with families and children to create a calming and interesting, yet non-clinical environment. Working with healthcare designers, Boex, who specialise in healthcare interiors, workshops with children of all ages took place, to bring together lots of ideas for designs and colours.
Andy Trotter, Chair of Oxleas NHS said: “The centre looks stunning. Having one location for specialist children's services, so they can work together, in a purpose built location, to provide high quality services for children, is a fantastic achievement. It will make life so much easier for the families and children who need to access these services.”
Oxleas NHS took over the management of Queen Mary’s Hospital in October 2013, and is investing over £50 million to develop and improve services and facilities at the site.
Other developments at the site include a state-of-the-art cancer centre and kidney treatment centre, both run by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. The Kidney Treatment Centre is due to open to patients on Monday 24 April and Guy’s Cancer at QMH is expected to open in May.
