Help transform garden and lives of sickest patients at KGH

Patients of KGH’s intensive care unit (ICU) and their visitors may soon have a green space in which to relax thanks to a fundraising campaign.

Working alongside the Northamptonshire Health Charity, supporters will raise funds so that ICU patients can have access to a garden that will aid them with their rehabilitation.

The ICU, located in the Foundation Wing, has 14 inpatient beds with two beds for inpatient dialysis.

During the pandemic this number was increased by 150 per cent to provide ventilation care for those most poorly with Covid and the average stay in ICU for a patient is now around 21 days.

Rob Powell, charity fundraiser, said: “This project will really make a huge difference for all those who spend time undergoing intensive therapy.

“Charitable donations have a huge potential to completely transform aspects of the hospital environment to benefit patients and staff.”

Alison Bosworth spent seven weeks in hospital – a month in intensive care – and is a patient ambassador for the ICU garden.

She said: “I almost crawled out of the discharge lounge just to be able to experience what it was like to breathe in fresh air again.

"During my time on ICU, of which four days was spent in an induced coma and on a ventilator, when I did come round I was able to see the pocket park from my bed and it gave me hope to get better so I could go home and see my beloved cherry tree in my garden again.”

The new ICU garden will provide space for loved ones to spend more quality time together, as patients recover, ahead of being discharged and allow children to see relatives away from the ward.

Healthcare assistant Holly Worland said: “A peaceful garden area to take patients out to so they can enjoy the outdoors and spend some crucial time with their loved ones would provide massive benefits for their rehabilitation and for their mental health.

"We could incorporate patients seeing their younger children or grandchildren if it was suitable to do so but also their family pets, which are just as important to some patients as children are.”

The fundraising target is £5,000 which together with some existing charity funds will cover the work that is required to transform the area – from landscaping and fencing, to plants, shrubs and a mural for the outdoor wall.

Holly added: “To prepare our patients for discharge, being able to differentiate between daytime and night-time is a key tool to being able to rehabilitate to life outside the hospital so we would love for them to begin benefiting from this newly developed garden this summer.”

As well as accepting donations via a Just Giving page people have been invited to donate items such as plants or shrubs for the garden area.

To donate to the KGH ICU garden go to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kghicugarden.

Anyone who has a donation of plants or shrubs can email Holly Worland at [email protected].