The True Colours Trust has donated £20,000 to renovate the two parent spaces in Royal Brompton’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

Our PICU provides highly specialised care for up to 500 children with life-threatening heart and lung conditions from across the UK each year. Many PICU patients are babies and whilst there is no average stay, they can be on the unit for up to a year.

Following on from the renovation of the ‘unwelcoming’ PICU reception for our ‘Heart of PICU Appeal’, we were delighted to be invited to apply for funding by True Colours to renovate our Parent Room and kitchen.

As part of the consultation process for the renovation, we conducted discussions with PICU staff and parents. These were invaluable and we now aim to create a contemporary, comfortable and homely space which we hope will significantly improve long stays in hospital, facilitate peer support, and also provide space for quiet reflection and respite. For the kitchen, we will take on board the comments to improve the seating and eating space as well as replace appliances, like in the initial design pictured right.

We would like to thank The True Colours Trust for their generosity and we look forward to opening the new spaces in Autumn.

We’ll keep you posted!