NHS hero Captain Sir Tom Moore's cash drives funds new garden for hospital staff in Portsmouth
STRESSED NHS workers in Portsmouth will soon have a place to unwind thanks to the legacy of late fundraising hero Captain Sir Tom Moore.
The remarkable 100-year-old died earlier this week after contracting Covid-19,
But his herculean charity drive last year saw him raise more than £33m for the NHS, cementing his place as a national hero.
Now, money from his fundraising campaign is being spent in Portsmouth to create a new garden at St Mary’s Hospital, Milton.
The site is one of two new open spaces being created in Hampshire to give NHS workers a place to unwind, with the other garden being constructed at the Western Community Hospital in Southampton.
Funded by NHS Charities Together, the gardens will offer a quiet space for health staff to eat their lunch, have a coffee break or just take some time out of their busy day.
David Noyes, chief operating officer at Solent NHS Trust, which runs both hospitals, said: ‘We are extremely grateful to receive this funding and be able to create these important and enduring facilities, thanks to Captain Sir Tom and NHS Charities Together.
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‘The gardens will offer an oasis of tranquillity for our fantastic, highly dedicated and hard-working staff, who I know will look forward to seeing them completed and putting them into use.
‘Shifts can be hectic across our busy wards and departments, so these gardens will give colleagues somewhere calm and pleasant to go for some much-needed time out when they need a break.’
Work at St Mary’s is already well underway, following a formal ‘breaking ground’ ceremony at the Southampton site earlier this year.
Both projects are being carried out by Eastleigh-based Scandor Landscape Contractors Ltd on behalf of Solent NHS Trust.