At the October meeting we were delighted to welcome Gilli Galloway to talk to us about two local and well-known institutions – the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Kings Lynn (QEH) and The Norfolk Hospice, Tapping House (Tapping House).
QEH
We learned that building the new QEH will start in 2026 and is due to be completed in 2030. The new QEH will provide 645 beds, many of which will be in single rooms.
The process whereby what is built when, and where, plus keeping the hospital running and accessible she compared to one of those puzzles where you move one tile at a time; especially as the new build involves siting the new hospital on the existing car park. A new, multi-storey car park will be built which will have ANPR (meaning visitors will no longer have to ‘guess’ how long they will be staying!) and the existing hospital building (currently supported by 5000 props) will take 5 years to demolish.
The air ambulance helipad will be re-located to the roof of the new hospital building. During the build, this will be relocated to the field on the other side of the roundabout.
The endoscopy and resuscitation units and the new diagnostic centre are already open and it is estimated that the latter will provide an additional 40,000 appointments each year, operating seven days a week. A discharge lounge is also available. Gilli spoke about the Peddars Way Unit providing end of life care and the Butterfly Garden.
Gilli encouraged us to become Foundation Trust Members so that we can receive regular updates and vote for Governors. There is no membership fee.
Tapping House
Tapping House was established by Dr. Hugh Ford and started providing a palliative care service from a small bungalow at Heacham.
The service moved to the purpose-built building in 2015. The design means that all the rooms look out onto gardens and are as home-like as possible.
In 2016, the site was officially opened by H.M. Queen Elizabeth II.
It was stressed that although a hospice often makes people think of ‘end of life’ care, the emphasis of Tapping House is on providing ‘rest of life’ care and celebrating the life lived.
This theme was taken up by the Cogent Marketing Agency who completed pro-bono rebranding work for the hospice, resulting in a new logo with the emphasis on Tapping House rather than Norfolk Hospice.
The Tapping House site also has a café which is open to visitors – whether or not visiting patients at the hospice, and an education/conference room is also available.
The cost of running the service is £5.7m per annum and approximately 1500 patients are supported each year as both in-patient and out-patient. Staff help patients fulfil ‘bucket list’ wishes and the ethos is all about ‘what does the patient need’.
Tapping House also provides information about various illnesses and diseases and runs a variety of short courses, plus At Home and bereavement support.
A wide range of fundraising activities are undertaken such as lottery, shop, merchandise, sponsored events and donations.
To conclude her talk Gilli asked one thing of us. To spread the word. We could do this by telling one person about Tapping House or encouraging another group to ask for a speaker from Tapping House.