The Queen has hailed a “wonderful” hospital garden providing a sanctuary for patients being treated for serious brain conditions.
Camilla opened the rooftop space after touring the green oasis at St George’s Hospital, providing fresh air, trees and shrubs to help aid the recovery of tumour patients, stroke sufferers and others treated for brain injuries.
She told staff and patients from McKissock Ward, a specialist neurosurgery unit at the hospital in Tooting, south London: “I can see the difference it makes just stepping outside into the fresh air.
“I’m sure all the patients here are going to benefit enormously from this – so I think you’ve done a wonderful job.”
The garden was created through a partnership between St George’s Hospital Charity and the John King Brain Tumour Foundation, a charity named in memory of a renowned chef who died a decade ago this year after being treated by St George’s staff after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.
The space aims to improve patient wellbeing by building on research which suggests nature-based rehabilitation may help improve outcomes from brain injury by improving motivation, regulating mood and sensory-motor and cognitive functions.
Laura King, who founded the foundation in memory of her husband, said: “We wanted to make a difference. We’re very happy the patients and their families will benefit from this garden, they will have somewhere to go.
“Also, if you get told bad news as John and I were – we were told he had 15 months to live – I was in a room with no windows, that was tough.”
The garden, designed by Rhiannon Williams, provides an area with small trees, shrubs, plants and flowers with seating areas a few feet away from the neurosurgery ward.
During her visit to the garden the Queen met patients enjoying the fresh air including Catherine Oppong-Barbo, one of St George’s brain surgery nurses who has recently left the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) after suffering a brain haemorrhage.
Ms Oppong-Barbo, 48, who has worked as a neurosurgery nurse at the hospital since 2017, told the Queen: “The balcony is a haven for patients and their families, it’s a space to connect while recovering.”
She said after the visit: “The balcony is a connection to the outside world after being beside lots of machines in intensive care, it makes it feel like I can breathe freely again.
“Now I’m using the balcony as a patient, I can put myself in their shoes and truly feel how big of an impact this is going to make”.
Camilla met many of the staff working in the neurosurgery ward and made a private visit to the ICU after stopping to chat to Matron Ma Rube Simba.
She joked: “You keep everybody in check?” and the matron replied: “I do make sure they do their job.”
