Children's hospice announces £17m revamp

The redesign will include better-equipped bedrooms and fully accessible adventure gardens

Kinross children's hospice Rachel House is set for a £17m revamp, thirty years after it opened.

The hospice, which was the first of its kind in Scotland, is one of two run by Children's Hospices Across Scotland (Chas).

The redesign will include an additional hydrotherapy pool, better-equipped bedrooms and fully accessible adventure gardens.

Building work is due to start next year with the full project set for completion in 2027, subject to approval from Perth and Kinross Council.

Rachel House was built in 1996 at a cost of £10m and opened by HRH The Princess Royal.

It supported just under 100 children a year in the 1990s, but that number has more than doubled and continues to rise.

The charity said that the redesign had "put children and families at the heart of the process" with their input key to the changes being made.

Dr Qusai Alhamdan, whose children Mo and Elaine have been supported by Rachel House since 2021, said the hospice was "very close to our hearts."

The children both suffer from ataxia with oculomotor apraxia, which causes problems with movement, co-ordination and balance.

Dr Alhamdan said: "As their condition is degenerative, making memories together as a family is very important to us and we have spent many wonderful respite visits at Rachel House over the last four years.

"My wife Esraa and I find our visits to the hospice very relaxing because we don't have to worry about our caring responsibilities as the lovely nurses and staff take over and do everything that is needed so we can just enjoy precious time together."

Two of the Alhamdan family's children, Mo and Elaine, have been supported by the hospice since 2021

Ken Lowndes' two daughters Jenny and Marion were two of the first children to be cared for in Rachel House when it opened.

Born healthy normal babies with a two-year age gap, both Jenny and Marion were diagnosed with leukodystrophy when they were four years old.

Before Rachel House opened, the family made regular 900-mile round trips from their home in Achiltibuie, north of Ullapool, to Martin House in West Yorkshire.

Mr Lowndes said: "We helped to fundraise for Rachel House but we never knew if Jenny and Marion would get to visit, if they'd live to see it.

"They did. They loved it, as did we all.

"Ensuring the next generation of families has the same standard of care that my family experienced is vital and the redesigned Rachel House will go on to make a huge difference to hundreds more Scottish families."

An additional hydrotherapy pool is also planned as part of the redevelopment

Chas chief executive Rami Okasha said the charity wanted to transform end-of-life care for children and their families in Scotland.

He said: "No one should face the death of their child alone and to be successful we are once again asking or donors to get on board and help raise the millions of pounds that will make a difference every day for families dealing with the unimaginable reality of loving and caring for a child who will die young."