Phase III – Roof repairs underway

As you will recall, the beginning of the year saw Princess Alexandra officially re-open our Norfolk wards as the ‘Phase II’ refurbishment was completed.

The residents are thoroughly enjoying the new spacious, bright and practical rooms and the completion of this £1.6 million project means that the Hospital Home now has continuity of facilities across all 60 beds.

In 2010, we will be looking to the bathroom blocks in the older part of the building - just outside of the Norfolk wards – which have not been updated since 1986 and are in need of refurbishment.

Before we can start this next phase of development with a more concrete project plan and fundraising campaign, we identified the need to repair some of the roof above these areas which we are delighted is now underway.

Our thanks go to The Boltini Trust who have helped to make this very first stage possible.

Fundraising Standards Board

The Queen Alexandra Hospital Home (QAHH) Fundraising Department is now a member of The Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB). The FRSB, is a Not-for-Profit organisation that runs the self-regulatory scheme for fundraising in the UK. Set up in 2006, it currently has over 1,100 members, with more joining all the time.

The QAHH Fundraising Department has joined the scheme because of our commitment to excellence in fundraising and our promise to donors that they can give with confidence. It is vital our donors feel they can trust QAHH when we ask them to give to us. As a member of the FRSB and by using the best practice in fundraising, we believe donors can give with confidence to the Queen Alexandra Hospital Home – just look for the FRSB tick.

2009 Worthing Business Awards

We were delighted to be nominated under the category 'Not for profit/Charity Organisation' at the 2009 Worthing Business Awards. The evening was hosted by Fred Dineage with some spectacular fireworks and dancing until the early hours.

Although we didn't win, QAHH were delighted to benefit from the raffle held during the evening and were thrilled to be part of this fabulous business event; recognising some of Worthing's finest.

HRH Princess Alexandra visits the newly refurbished Norfolk ward


On the 22nd January 2009, Princess Alexandra came to the Hospital Home to inspect the newly completed Phase 2 building work on Norfolk Wards. The new building houses a state of the art bathroom, with two double bedrooms and one single. The new build was fully funded by Trusts, some of whom were present during her visit.

Whilst here Princess Alexandra met local dignitaries, QAHH Trustees, residents and the staff who lined the corridors and Occupational Therapy Dept. The Princess enjoyed afternoon tea, which included cookies made by the residents. The Princess was so impressed by the cookies that she asked if she could take some home.

The Princess was presented with a bouquet by Val Oram who will be retiring after 19 years working in the occupational therapy department.

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Awarded Gold Standards Framework for excellence in nursing care

The Queen Alexandra Hospital Home has been accredited with a Commendation Pass for the Gold Standard Framework (GSF) for End of Life Care. The purpose of the GSF is to deliver a Gold Standard of Care to those who are nearing the end of lives – and is not an award that is lightly given or awarded.

This is a major achievement for QAHH who specialise in nursing care and rehabilitation for ex-Service men and women with an age range from 21-90+. QAHH has been delivering care of the dying for many years but this award recognises and publicly acknowledges the standard of care of the dying that is prevalent at QAHH. So it is a major achievement.

The Gold Standard Framework in Care Homes Programme grew out of the work of GSF in primary care, improving the care for people nearing the end of their life. Though it shares many common principles with the primary care programme, the work is quite independent of it, with a separately evolved programme tailored to meet the needs of staff in care homes. It has been grown and developed from the grass roots experience of over 600 care homes over four years, blending evidence based good practice with real-life experience from thousands of staff and residents. It is now a very successful, user friendly training programme that can bear fruit in any care home.

The GSF had three aims:

  • To improve the quality of care provided for all residents from admission.
  • To improve the collaboration with GPs, Primary Care teams and specialists.
  • To reduce the number of hospital admissions in the final stage of life, enabling more people to die with dignity in the home if that is their wish.

Valerie Walker, Director of Nursing at QAHH said:
"This is a very major achievement for all the staff at QAHH as it demonstrates and acknowledges their commitment and professionalism for end-of-life care for all residents at the Hospital Home. This award is not an easy qualification to achieve as demonstrated by the fact that there is only one other care home in West Sussex that has also been recognised. I must make particular mention of Dr Michael Twitchen and Dr Richard Orpin, the two QAHH doctors, for all their help and support to us in the long work-up and preparation prior to achieving this award"Back to top