Patients on Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust’s adult mental health rehabilitation wards at The Willows in Leicester are to benefit from a new therapeutic activities kitchen.
The new ADL (activities for daily living) kitchen is being built as part of a five week programme of improvement work that will also see patient safety and security boosted. New windows and security doors will be installed at the entrance to the unit, on Cordelia Close, and the open plan stairs in reception will be enclosed for greater safety.
It will provide facilities where occupational therapists can support patients’ return to independence. Currently patients on the Willows’ four wards have to share the housekeeping kitchen facilities, which restricts the time and range available to them.
Lynne Ward, team manager at The Willows and occupational therapy rehabilitation service said: “The patients at The Willows will finally have their own dedicated space – using domestic rather than industrial equipment – to help them develop and maintain their skills in providing themselves with meals when they are discharged to the community.“The space will enable groups to be extended both in the numbers of people able to use the facility at any one time and also increased availability of the space for groups and individual work. Our thanks go to the housekeepers who have so generously shared the space over the years and who can now have their central kitchen back.”
Reception at The Willows is closed while work is underway. Visitors are asked to access the wards by using the entrance to Sycamore Ward between 9am and 5pm and via the individual ward entrances outside these times. Entry to Acacia Ward will be via Sycamore Ward at all times. Signs are in place directing visitors to the appropriate entrance while work is carried out. Work is due for completion in March.