Patient-centred care at new Centre for Motor neurone disease

The new Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease is the first of its kind in the country to offer specialist services for MND patients, designed in partnership with the very people it’s created for; with patient care and compassion at its heart.

Based at Seacroft Hospital in Leeds, the ground-breaking centre opened its doors earlier this month after being constructed by our West Yorkshire construction company, I&G.

The centre, which is run by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, was made possible by through fundraising by Leeds Hospitals Charity who raised an incredible £6.8m to fund the centre and is named after rugby league legend Rob Burrow CBE, who campaigned for MND after being diagnosed with the condition in 2019.

The vision for the centre was to create a holistic patient-centred approach, which doesn’t just stop at the services available in the centre. The design and construction of the building itself reflects the focus on patient welfare, having being designed in partnership with the hospital’s clinical staff, patients, their families and the wider MND community.

The whole building is calm, welcoming and, of course, fully accessible. The natural light and less clinical environment allows for discussions about patients’ wellbeing as a whole, not just their physical concerns. The space brings multi-disciplinary teams together with physiotherapy and occupational therapy, drop-in clinics, gentle exercise groups and groups where people can meet with others who are living similar experiences.

Claire Lang, Specialist Nurse at the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease, said: “I hope everyone feels a big hug of support when they enter the centre. I think they will love that everything within the centre is accessible and designed for them. I hope this makes them feel supported, valued and that this is a place they can be themselves.”

With the Government’s focus shifting more towards continuous, accessible and integrated care, the centre is a prime example of what can be achieved through a truly patient-centred approach.

By integrating the patient-focused model of care into the design and feel of the building itself, the Rob Burrow Centre for MND is one of several projects we’ve been part of that are helping reintegrate healthcare into the social fabric of places, and moving care to the places patients live.