Fisher House: Home for troops' families to open in March

Fisher House: Home for troops' families to open in March

BBC News

01.16.13

A building in Birmingham for the families of injured forces personnel is due to open at the end of March.

They will stay for free at the £4.2m Fisher House, within walking distance of the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, where soldiers are treated.

The new facility is being funded by charities including Help for Heroes and the US-based Fisher House Foundation.

A show bedroom opened on Tuesday to allow families and patients to view it and give feedback.

The building, in the grounds of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, includes 18 en-suite family rooms.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEHB) Charity chief executive Mike Hammond said people had been "so impressed" since the show bedroom opened.

He added: "There's the sort of furniture you'd expect to see in a top-class hotel.

"It's just going to make such a difference to those families, knowing they can just be by the bedside whenever they need to be."

Scaffolding outside the new facility has come down.

QEHB Charity is the official charity of the Queen Elizabeth and Selly Oak hospitals, providing equipment, research and facilities "over and above that provided by the NHS", it said.