8 June 2010
The new Help for Heroes Rehabilitation Complex
for injured soldiers at Headley Court in
Surrey officially opened on 04 June.
The new complex - funded by the charity and
opened by His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales - is a
major boost to the site’s current facilities and features a 25m
long swimming pool with moving floor, an ‘Aqua Jogger’, a new and
improved gym, and new medical rehabilitation facilities.
Capita Symonds provided a multidisciplinary
range of services on the project – including architecture, civil
and structural engineering, ecology, landscaping and environmental
- on behalf of Interserve Building which in turn is working on
behalf of PriDE - the Ministry of Defence's Prime South East
Contractor.
Headley Court provides care and rehabilitation
for soldiers returning from battlefields in places such as
Afghanistan and Iraq with serious injuries that often lead to
amputations. Over the last three years the facility, which looks
after more than 180 patients, has increased the number of beds
available for "complex trauma" patients from 18 to 66. Since
opening in June 2006, it has also become of one of the country's
most advanced prosthetic workshops, dealing with 50 patients who
have lost limbs.
The site also provides support for soldiers
through physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech and
language therapists, social workers, a psychologist and a cognitive
therapist. It originally began its work after World War II for RAF
personnel but in 1996 became the main UK military rehabilitation
centre for all three armed forces.
Find
out more about the official opening on the Help for Heroes
website