Children's Hospital for Wales
Encyclopedia
The Children's Hospital for Wales, also known as the Children's Hospital, Cardiff is a children's hospital
Children's hospital
A children's hospital is a hospital which offers its services exclusively to children . The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th century, as pediatric medical and surgical specialties separated from internal medicine and adult surgical specialties...

 in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. It is situated on the site of the University Hospital of Wales
University Hospital of Wales
University Hospital of Wales , opened in November 1971, is a major 1000-bed hospital situated in the inner city district of Heath in Cardiff, Wales...

 in the Heath
Heath, Cardiff
Heath is a community in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales, originally called the Great Heath and named as a result of the large park and woodland that it once contained. It should be distinguished from the Little Heath which lies to the south of the Great Heath, in the vicinity of Crwys Road...

 area of the city.

The hospital is opening in two phases. The first phase opened in 2005. Each floor has its own distinct artwork theme.

The hospital serves Cardiff as well as South, Mid and West Wales. The hospital is expected to admit 23,000 inpatients and 50,000 outpatients per year, with one third of patients coming from outside the Cardiff Health Board area. In addition, specialists from the hospital perform clinics annually across Wales in local hospitals with local paediatricians.

Phase One

The building work for Phase One of the Children's Hospital for Wales began in April 2003. The hospital admitted its first patients at the end of February 2005 and the Noah’s Ark Appeal led by Charlotte Church
Charlotte Church
Charlotte Maria Church is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide including over 5 million in the United States...

 and young patients handed over the keys to the Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust
Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board is a National Health Board in Wales. It came into being on 1 October 2009 through the amalgamation of three NHS organisations in the Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan area...

 on 1 March 2005. Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...

 opened the Children’s Hospital for Wales in 2006.

Phase One of the Children's Hospital for Wales brought new, purpose-designed buildings and facilities for children's services such as a new main entrance, atrium and reception. As this is on the Ocean floor of the hospital, the artwork all ties in with the ocean theme featuring a fish tank and a fish tree sculpture. The interactive wall plays different sounds of the sea and calming music.

Phase One incurred two medical wards (Ocean and Land) with bedside parents' accommodation, family room, parent lounges, playrooms and an education room. A children's cancer unit is on two floors (Sky and Space) including an in-patient ward, day care unit, outpatients and full family accommodation. There is a teenage lounge with internet café, younger children’s playrooms, a quiet room and a parent lounge.

Playrooms at the Children’s Hospital of Wales were restocked with new toys by city department store John Lewis
John Lewis (department store)
-Recent developments:In June 2004, John Lewis announced plans to open its first store in Northern Ireland at the Sprucefield Park development, the province's largest out of town shopping centre, located outside Lisburn and from Belfast. The application was approved in June 2005 and the opening of...

 after the South Wales Echo
South Wales Echo
The South Wales Echo is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Cardiff, Wales and distributed throughout the surrounding area.The newspaper was founded in 1884 and was based in Thomson House, Cardiff city centre. It is published by Media Wales Ltd , part of the Trinity Mirror group...

 reported that the theft of toys threatened a playroom with closure. The donated toys included DVDs, toy cars, dolls and Wii controllers.

Phase Two

Edwina Hart
Edwina Hart
Edwina Hart, MBE, AM is a Welsh Labour politician who has represented the constituency of Gower since the National Assembly for Wales was established in 1999. Hart was appointed Minister for Health and Social Services in the Welsh Government in May 2007.-Background:Hart was born and raised in...

 AM, the Health Minister
Health minister
A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services....

 of Wales announced that the Welsh Assembly Government
Welsh Assembly Government
The Welsh Government is the devolved government of Wales. It is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales, the legislature which represents the interests of the people of Wales and makes laws for Wales...

 would fund the capital costs of phase two of the Children’s Hospital for Wales.

On 1 July 2010, First Minister Carwyn Jones
Carwyn Jones
Carwyn Howell Jones is a Welsh politician and the First Minister of Wales. The third official to lead the Welsh Government, Jones has been Assembly Member for Bridgend since 1999. In the coalition government of Welsh Labour and Plaid Cymru, he was appointed Counsel General for Wales and Leader of...

 earmarked almost £7m for the second phase of the hospital to minimise any further delays once the final plans are approved. Construction work on Phase Two is expected to begin in August 2011 and the first patients will be admitted to the completed hospital in 2014.

Phase two will include:
  • A new critical care unit combining high dependency and intensive care
  • 5 paediatric theatres - three of which for general surgery, one for emergency and one for dental surgery
  • A radiology suite including an ultrasound room, fluroscopy room and an open MRI scanner (the only such scanner in the UK and the second in Europe)
  • A clinical assessment unit and a clinical investigations unit
  • A 2000m square outpatients department incorporating the dental surgery suite, a hydrotherapy pool. treatment rooms and colposcopy suite
  • 99 inpatient beds and a 14 bedded day unit
  • An enclosed garden

Noah's Ark Appeal

The Noah's Ark Appeal is the hospital's fundraising campaign, founded in May 2000 to build, equip and support the only children's hospital
Children's hospital
A children's hospital is a hospital which offers its services exclusively to children . The number of children's hospitals proliferated in the 20th century, as pediatric medical and surgical specialties separated from internal medicine and adult surgical specialties...

 for Wales. The capital funding for Phase Two comes from the Welsh Assembly Government but the Noah’s Ark Appeal is needed to provide some major pieces of equipment such as an open MRI scanner, the art program as well as other state-of-the-art specialist equipment.

The Noah’s Ark Appeal was launched following a 10 year period of lobbying and campaigning by the charity’s founder trustees to raise initially £5 million for the building costs of phase one. The Noah’s Ark Appeal continued to support the Children’s Hospital for Wales while at the same time pressing for the hospital to be completed by the Welsh Assembly Government. By 2008 over £12 million had been raised.

The patrons of the appeal are Cardiff born Dame Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...

 and Charlotte Church
Charlotte Church
Charlotte Maria Church is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide including over 5 million in the United States...

, and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Catherine Zeta Jones and husband Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...

toured the hospital on 23 July 2010 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the fundraising campaign, 4 years after they opened the first phase of the hospital.

Funds raised

In 2006 the Noah's Ark Appeal raised £300,000 towards the building of a teenage cancer trust unit which is the largest one of its kind in the UK and will enable teenagers to be treated with other teenagers rather than with young children or old people. A further £25,000 has since been given for additional equipment. The appeal has also funded £200,000 worth of state-of-the-art equipment for the paediatric eye department making it one of the best in the UK.

The Noah’s Ark Appeal has provided at a cost of £150,000 free bedside TV and radio for patients at the Children’s Hospital for Wales. £160,000 has been provided to refurbish a new young persons unit.

The appeal provides equipment when requested such as biopsy kits (£5000) and a bladder scanner (£8000) which will be taken by a nurse to children’s homes principally in Mid and West Wales. The scanner, specially designed for children, can aid diagnosis and prevent unnecessary treatment or flag up problems that if untreated at an early stage could lead to kidney problems.

External links

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