The WISHH Health and Wellbeing Suite officially opened at Castle Hill Hospital on Wednesday 29th June. The £150,000 suite was created as a safe haven for staff to relax and recharge their batteries. Chair of WISHH, Sue Lockwood and Trust Chief Executive, Chris Long performed the official opening at a special event with WISHH trustees and staff connected with Up! – the trust’s programme to support staff’s health and happiness at work.
The WISHH Charity’s Covid-19 Appeal, supported by the public, businesses, Hull Live’s Helping Hull Hospitals Heroes appeal and charities in Hull and the East Riding raised a staggering £78,000 for the suite as one of its long-term legacy projects to support staff at Hull. WISHH were also successful for securing funds from NHS Charities Together, the charity supported by the late Captain Sir Tom Moore, receiving £72,000 to make the suite a reality.
The suite, next to Nightingales Restaurant, has two large rooms separated by a foldable partition to create one larger space. The rooms, named Restore and Energise, host an incredible array of health and wellbeing activities and classes. It has two showers for staff to get washed and changed after cycling or running to work or taking part in our trust activities.
The suite has a dedicated focus on staff health and wellbeing so the rooms will be used for that purpose by staff. Bookings will be controlled by the Organisational Development team to uphold the centre’s founding principles.
Staff had already been taking part in Up! activities in and around the suite ahead of the official launch, from travel planning to help staff bike to and from work to yoga, woodwork and Sound Baths for staff groups.