The mental health hospital and research centre, run by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV), held an opening event last week (11 October), to thank its colleagues, involvement members, volunteers, governors and partners, who were involved the development of the hospital.
The commemorative wall plaque was unveiled by the hospital’s reception staff, with a message expressing the warm welcome they give to people every day.
Communitas, a community choir run as part of the Converge centre at York St John University, performed a host of songs including ‘I Can See Clearly Now’ and ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’.
Converge is a partnership between TEWV and York St John University. The aim of Converge is to open up York St John University and everything that it can offer to people who, for a time in their lives, have experienced mental ill health.
The Trust’s volunteer therapy dogs were also in attendance.
Beverley Linfoot, from the reception team at Foss Park, said: “It has a been a surprise and a pleasure to officially open Foss Park. I joined the reception team hoping to make a difference by using my customer service skills, and I hope that together a team, we are achieving this.
“I love working on the reception desk, where no two days are ever the same. I love to meet new people and as a bonus I get to work with the most wonderful team.”
Trust chief executive Brent Kilmurray, made a speech, saying: “We are marking something that is not only important to us as an organisation, but also as a community here in York.
“It is a fantastic hospital and we have some great colleagues. Being here to officially open the hospital is a proud moment for me and for our Trust as a whole.”
David Jennings, chair of the Trust, thanked everyone for coming, saying: “This is too good a facility to let it pass without recognising it in some way.”
Commenting on the hospital reception team, he said: “We made a decision to ask a team of people to open it, and that team is the smiling faces of Foss Park that you see when you walk through the door. It’s our reception team.
“On the basis that this is a hospital about people, it seems entirely right, that the smiling faces of those people, are the ones we ask to open this hospital.”
