CRASH support helps increase capacity at West Yorkshire hospice

Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice supports children with life-shortening conditions, their families, and families who are living with the loss of their child across West Yorkshire.

There is a growing demand from West Yorkshire NHS commissioners for care placements for children and young people with significant and complex needs, helping to both avoid hospital admission and support earlier discharge.

Due to this growing need, Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice applied for CRASH’s help to increase capacity of their hospice. This involved creating a new fifth children’s en-suite bedroom and upgrading an existing family en-suite room for multi-use.

CRASH Corporate Patron, Arcadis joined the initial visit and produced a detailed report highlighting the hospices next best steps to increasing their space, enabling them to help more children and their families. A Cost Manager from Corporate Patron Gardiner & Theobald also donated their time and expertise to cost this project.

The fifth children’s bedroom was created in line with the latest accessibility requirements by converting the former storeroom, conveniently next to the existing four bedrooms.

One of the two family rooms has now been upgraded to a multi-use functionality, meaning it can be used by both families and teenagers/older children with significant but less complex needs.

The total Gift in Kind value for this project was £47,640. This included a grant from CRASH, which was only made possible thanks to generous donations and fundraising of the construction industry.

Mark Lee, Associate – Lenders, Investors and Insurers at Arcadis, said: “Arcadis has a long history of supporting CRASH and I feel extremely honoured and privileged to play a part in that support. It was clear from the second we stepped through the door that the staff at the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice truly care about helping families make the most of every moment that have together, and it feels very special to be able to use my professional skills to help CRASH support the charity on this project.”