The R7.2-million revamp of the Parents’ Accommodation has doubled its capacity, meeting the desperate need for an upgraded facility. The facility can now host more parents from outside of Cape Town, if their children are being treated at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
A new wing of the building consisting of a ground and first floor with 18 bedrooms and two ablution facilities was opened for use by the parents in December 2014. At the end of March, the upgrade of the existing Parents’ Accommodation building was successfully completed. The facility also provides a communal venue for parents of long-stay patients and day visitors who spend long hours waiting in queues to receive lunch in the upgraded dining room.
“The upgraded Parents’ Accommodation has doubled the number of beds at the Hospital’s Parents Accommodation significantly increasing its capacity to provide 80 out of town parents with beds if their child is being treated at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital. We are very proud of this enormous step in improving services offered for families who travel long distances in order to receive medical care,” says Louise Driver, CEO of the Children’s Hospital Trust.
Minister of Western Cape: Health, Professor Nomafrench Mbombo, comments, “Under my leadership, the provision of health in the Western Cape should go far beyond the curing of illnesses but should include the wellbeing of our clients and employ the patient-centred approach. This is why the Parents’ Accommodation is so important as it affords parents the opportunity to be close to their children while they are receiving treatment. We are extremely proud of the work the Children’s Hospital Trust does to help us achieve such an ambitious goal of improving the experience of patients in our facilities.”
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