Headley Court to close and move to Leicestershire
 

See

BBC News - Stanford Hall to replace Headley Court as rehab centre

The new place outside Loughborough seems ideally sited, close to M1, and about 10 miles from a East Mids Airport.... It is also centrally located country wise for visitors.

I wonder what is next for the old facility, bearing in mind the Nimby's who objected to the house conversion for visiting families, my suggestions for it are


Young offenders home..

Immigration removal centre

Open prison

:E :ok:

It will be sad to see it go though, I do hope no one loses out employment wise and the building does get put to some fit purpose, something like being taken over by the NHS.

Whilst anyone with any sense will fully support a 'rehab' centre for our armed forces, it completely baffles me that the entire costs are not provided from MOD core funds. H4H etc. should not have to donate £8m to make improvements. Everything that could ever be needed should already be provided by public money as a matter of course, let alone an element of gratitude for wounded heroes put in harms way on behalf of our nation.

Sorry but it just disgusts me that we rely on charity to provide a swimming pool etc... :mad:

I see that the new location will not be just mil, civilians will be treated as well. The worry will be who is in control, mil or nhs managers.

Was there not millions spent on a new pool there ?

Prime Development Land in that area vs UP NORTH.

Not that I believe that would ever be a consideration:rolleyes:

As someone who has spent the last 6 years flogging myself for a Mil Charity, its brilliant to see all that investment at Headley Court potentially shredded. Or not.

Tick VG for His Grace and colleagues, not sure about the strategy.

http://www.holidays4heroes.org

Don't think Headley is MoD/DIO owned, ISTR all sorts of caveats as to what it could be used for. Think it was willed to be of benefit for airmen - or something.

Spent a very helpful (and enjoyable :E) 6 months or so at Headley a few years back.....

Agree strongly that it's appalling that the new place is charity funded - and I hear that Gerald Westminster paid some/all/most of the bill for it.

"all that investment at Headley Court"

I was thinking the same thing.

All that investment and upgrades during the busiest period for years,
to then walk away ?

So, the slow but sure deterioration of the military covenant, so beloved of the likes of the smarmy Camoron continue. Whilst spouting meaningless mouth music to con the masses that they actually bother, they quietly move, displace and lose sight of their promises, and commitments. I wonder how long before Dunkinsmith has control of the MOD pensions budget, how long before the ATOS attack troops (or their replacements) are set on our war pensioners? It seems that the only thing politicians spend their time on these days is working out how to justify reversing promises they have made. What a total bumferk!!!

Smudge

I'm not sure it matters who is in 'control' as long as measures are put in place to ensure adaquate provision and adaptions are put in place specific to military need.

QE Birmingham has shown the ability for an NHS-run hospital to also host an MDHU quite happily and provide excellent service utilising both military and civilian personnel.

I'll be sad to see Headley Court go, it was working there that convinced me to re-train as a nurse after leaving regular service (to later re-join as an Auggie). This said though the new site is excellent (I pass it fairly often on my commute to work) and will provide much room for expansion, away from the petty idiots of the Mole Valley.

ISTR from Command Accounts Inspections that HC is owned by a charitable trust. Is the Stanford Hall being mentioned the one near Lutterworth - if so I believe Percy Pilcher did some gliding experiments there - might even have been killed there - he was - see below


"
Death[edit]

On 30 September 1899, having completed his triplane, he had intended to demonstrate it to a group of onlookers and potential sponsors in a field near Stanford Hall. However, days before, the engine crankshaft had broken and, so as not to disappoint his guests, he decided to fly the Hawk instead. The weather was stormy and rainy, but by 4 pm Pilcher decided the weather was good enough to fly.[3] Whilst flying, the tail snapped and Pilcher plunged 10 metres (30 ft) to the ground: he died two days later from his injuries with his triplane having never been publicly flown.[4]
He is buried in Brompton Cemetery, west London.

No, that's the 'other' Stanford Hall, not the one proposed for the HC replacement, which is a bit further north up the M1.

I met and fell in love with Mrs Archie1 just over 50 years ago at Headley Court, in the days when the Orderly Officer used to raise and lower the flag from his wheelchair and MRAF Lord Tedder was an outpatient. Sorry to see the place close.

And how long did it take until it started to work in a halfway reasonable way?

Oh, that's right several years.

Not best pleased to hear this. This facility has been extended and improved beyond measure in recent years and much of these improvements were paid for by charity. Why should all this charitable funding be squandered for a fast buck.

I know the area well and of course Headly Court is very valuable as just real estate. I"m discusted that the government think they can just poach upon our grounds and flog them off when they feel like it.

Headly Court has been apart of the RAF for decades, I remember camping in the Headly Court ground during Air Training Corps exercises in the 1970s.

:\

What happened to Collaton Cross?

Bob C

Headley Court is not owned by the military but by a trust, they will decide the future of the real estate but there is no benefit to MOD from real estate sale. The site also comes with certain limitations, especially with relation to expansion and/or flexibility.
The new site is largely being funded by the Duke of Westminster with MOD picking up the running expenses.
It should provide a state of the art facility at least as good as Headley Court if the most prized asset, the staff, relocate.

Standard practice for those in charge of public funds.

The proposal
 

More details are here Home | The Stanford Hall Estate Redevelopment

With all due respect it was not the NHS-ran elements that caused the (quite expected) gradual work-up to full capacity.

The skills required to treat major trauma are not quickly and easily learned and whilst many within the NHS had/have treated comparable injuries the military element of QE, even with some of their number having worked within the wider NHS over the years to build their competencies, was actually quite inexperienced.

There are well-understood (at least to those who practice within the military medical/nursing services) advantages to merging military care services into NHS, not the least the ability to maintain practical and theoretcial skills and competencies during 'slack' periods (ie: when Afghanistan ends).

The days of stand alone military hospitals are largely gone, not the least because such units cannot provide the level of continious development/practical experience required to meet the legal requirements of the medical and nursing professional bodies. To be blunt, stand alone military hospitals don't see the throughput to keep their staff competent (legally speaking).

To go back to your commet though, do you think Headley Court was 100% ready for the increases in patients it experienced after Iraq/Afghanistan kicked off? As someone who was based at Headley Court back then I can tell you that many staff had to build-up their knowledge spending time working at and alongside staff from Queen Mary's, Roehampton, especially those very experienced NHS staff who work on the Douglas Bader unit.

GR - Thanks - had not realised there are two Stanford Halls in the same area.