Trust works with Council to transform hotel into rehabilitation facility for Buckinghamshire inpatients
As part of its response to the Omicron surge, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, working closely with Buckinghamshire Council, has swiftly reconfigured the Olympic Lodge Hotel to create an additional temporary care facility for patients. Olympic Lodge welcomed its first patients on the 31st of January 2022.
Located in the grounds of Stoke Mandeville Stadium, this two-story building is for those patients who do not need an acute hospital bed but require further support as they prepare to return home. The building includes single rooms and a light filled day room where patients can socialise. The facility is working well and patients and staff enjoying working in a quieter environment. In the first three weeks of opening 32 patients were admitted to the Olympic Lodge and 17 were discharged either back to their own home or on to a permanent residential placement.
Jenny Ricketts, Director of Community Transformation for the Trust, said, “When our patients no longer need to be in a hospital bed, it is better for their ongoing recovery to return to the comfort of their own home as soon as possible. This unit will provide a safe and suitable environment for patients to regain their confidence and independence. It will also provide some of the extra capacity we need through the winter period. A huge amount of work has gone into swiftly setting up the unit and I’d like to thank all those involved from within the Trust, the team at Olympic Lodge and our partners at Buckinghamshire Council.”
One 95-year-old patient commented: “It was lovely to be in my own room – with a TV! The staff were very kind and I felt well looked after. I just wanted to go home and today I am. So I am delighted.”