Patients, staff and guests gathered together this week (Wednesday 08 October) to officially open a £1.1m NHS facility in the centre of Hinckley.

Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT) have created a new base within the Hinckley Hub on Rugby Road, which has ten treatment rooms and two large treatment gyms. Together they will offer space to treat children and adults with physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

The space is the permanent successor to a portable building which was located on Mount Road, Hinckley. That was demolished two years ago to make way for another NHS project.

The new space is larger, brighter, and more accessible. It has a comprehensive set of patient hoists for those who need them, and is fully accessible to wheelchair users.

Around 5,000 adult physiotherapy patients a year are expected to use the facility, along with 550 children, many of whom will receive multiple appointments for physiotherapy and occupational therapy across the year.

Angela Hillery, chief executive of Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, said: “Our part of the hub is bigger, brighter, dryer, and more accessible than what went before. I am confident it will be the place where we deliver high quality healthcare for many years to come.”

The children’s therapy services area was finished off thanks to a number of supporters, which was arranged by LPT’s in-house charity Raising Health:

  • Wooden Spoon charity and the Tea Bar Volunteers helped to equip the Sensory Room;
  • Next Giving charity team created feature walls in five therapeutic rooms, with themes such as outer space and under the sea;
  • Next Giving charity team also funded a plaque in memory of Jenny Saunders, a physiotherapist who worked for LPT for 17 years.

Leicester City FC’s mascot Filbert Fox also attended the official opening to lend his seal of approval.

Richard Brown, LPT’s associate director for estates and facilities, praised contractor Tilbury Douglas for the work in converting offices to clinical treatment rooms. He said: “Our capital and property team, with our supply chain, have delivered a first class project with great attention to detail and quality.”

The ribbon cutting ceremony was performed by two patients – Joshua Beddard (pictured left) and Pat Stott (right), who each live in Hinckley.