On Monday 14 June 2021, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire and the Mayor of Gosport opened Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust’s, newly refurbished, Poppy Ward at Gosport War memorial Hospital. Poppy Ward cares for some of Hampshire’s most vulnerable older people living with Dementia. The event also thanked our incredible staff who continued to provide the highest quality of care to patients in the community, and on other wards, while the works took place.
Poppy Ward is the first of four mental health wards, across Hampshire, to benefit from the Governments £400 million national grant to remove dormitories in mental health settings and update wards, across the country, to the highest standards.
Patients will start being cared for on Poppy Ward in July 2021.
Sharon Craddock, Modern Matron for Older People’s Mental Health Inpatients, Gosport War Memorial Hospital says,
“We are celebrating the beginning of a fabulous journey for every patient, their families and carers who will be able to come to the ward and experience a different way of treatment and recovery. The environment offers a relaxing and engaging space for individuals to be themselves. It is also an opportunity for our staff to work in an environment that supports the fantastic care they deliver every day.
The future for the ward is endless and allows us to deliver for our local community, the service they have long deserved. We are so excited.”
The ward has been designed, with the help of patients, their carers/families and staff. It now boasts state of the art facilities to help ensure that patients receive the best care possible. These include 14 individual bedrooms with en-suites/assisted bathrooms, therapeutic spaces, a de-escalation room, activity room, a brand new patient dining room and kitchen, new offices for staff and beautifully designed sensory garden spaces with soft ground to protect patients in case of a fall.
The design of the ward use the latest Dementia friendly research to assist patients to feel safe within the environment, such as the use of bright colours to help service users identify different areas of the ward and individualised access to their personalised bedroom. The ward layout has been deliberately created in a continuous floorplan so that patients can orientate themselves but still enjoy all facilities.
The Lord-Lieutenant and the Mayor of Gosport officially opened the ward by the cutting of a ribbon.
The Lord-Lieutenant was delighted to have a first look at the ward and said:“The moment I walked in here I was so impressed with what I saw and how welcoming and exciting the new development was for the patients. The new ward will ensure that Gosport Ward Memorial Hospital provides the very best care possible for people in a very modern environment. It will give so much to the people of Gosport and across Hampshire. I am hugely honoured to open this ward, with The Mayor, and I would like to congratulate and thank everyone involved in the development.”
The Mayor of Gosport was honoured to open to the ward alongside the Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire and says, “My thanks go to everyone that has been involved in this project and also for the future. It is the care you will be delivering for older people with mental health needs in Gosport and the surrounding areas that will be so important.”