The League of Friends of the Bexhill Hospital � Newsletter

							The League of Friends of the Bexhill Hospital – Newsletter
THE Irvine Unit at Bexhill Hospital now has a state-of-the-art new facility to help elderly
people live independent lives. A new plaque by a door in the unit reads “Marjorie’s
Independent Living Suite.”

When Cllr Bridget George accepted office as Town Mayor in May 2009, she vowed to
raise money for the Irvine Unit in memory of her mother, who was cared for there.
Before transferring the chain of office to her successor, Cllr Jimmy Carroll at Bexhill
Charter Trustees’ annual mayor-making ceremony at the Town Hall last May, Cllr
George presented a cheque to Alice Webster, head of unscheduled care for Hastings and
Rother Primary Care Trust and John Dowling as League President.

This dual acceptance symbolised the League’s role in assisting in the Town Mayor’s
quest to assist the Irvine Unit. The previous Wednesday the Mayor had cut a symbolic
ribbon from across the door to what a brass plaque now reveals to be “Marjorie’s
Independent Living Suite.”

The flat contains everything that someone recovering from a stroke or other debilitating
illness requires to assess whether they are capable of living independently once more.
The new windows have a simple low-level operating mechanism. The bathroom/toilet has
every device to ensure the user’s safety and stability. The kitchen has height-adjustable
work-tops and sink for use by those able to stand or those using a wheelchair.

From the outset, the Irvine Unit was designed with the rehabilitation back into the
community in mind. But over the years the ageing independent living flat became
relegated to storeroom use. It was greatly missed. Bexhill patients have had to go to
Eastbourne for assessment of their ability to live independently.

Now the Mayor’s timely intervention in her mother’s memory has not only given the flat
new life but will give new life both to in-patients and to those in need from the
community. Pauline Butterworth, the trust’s intermediate care manager, said: “The flat is
going to mean that we can take rehabilitation to a different stage. “For in-patients we can
use it for phased discharge. But it also means that people from the community, where
therapists looking to assess moving and handling and other care can come in with their
patients and use this facility. “It is something for the benefit of the community in Bexhill
and Rother.”

Also present at the Irvine Unit ceremony together with fellow Charter Trustee Cllr Stuart
Wood was Alice Webster, head of unscheduled care for the PCT and Ward Sister Claire
Conely. Representing the league were its president, its secretary Ann Dowling, treasurer
Robin Barnett and committee members Peter Mitchell-Davis and Geoff Frost. At the
ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Mayor recalled the help and kindness shown by Irvine Unit
staff to her mother and to her family in general. She hoped that people from Bexhill and
the surrounding area would enjoy using the facility in a unit that was so important to the
local community.