Her Royal Highness The Countess of Wessex GCVO has officially become the Royal Patron of the Leeds Children’s Hospital.
Mr Mike Collier CBE, the outgoing Chairman of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, made the announcement today (Thursday 31 January) at his last Trust Board meeting before his retirement.
Mike Collier said:
I am absolutely delighted that Her Royal Highness has accepted our invitation,” he said. “Her patronage will be a huge boost to what is one of the finest children’s hospitals in the country, seeing tens of thousands of young patients from across our region every year.
Her Royal Highness made a wonderful impression when she visited us last March to declare the Leeds Children’s Hospital open. Her obvious interest in the care we provide here and her warmth and charm when meeting children, parents and staff made this one of the most successful such events we have ever hosted.
After the visit there was such a buzz of goodwill created in the hospital that it seemed a natural progression to look at ways of carrying on the relationship with Her Royal Highness on a more formal basis.
We feel proud and honoured that she has decided to choose to be the Royal Patron of Leeds Children’s Hospital.
Her Royal Highness officially opened the Leeds Children’s Hospital facilities at Leeds General Infirmary on 28 March 2012 as the culmination of £30 million project to bring children’s inpatient hospital facilities together on a single hospital site.
