News
HRH opens a new integrated health centre at the Okehampton Community Hospital in Devon
17th November 2004
The Prince of Wales opened a new integrated health centre at Okehampton Community Hospital in Devon, describing it as an inspiration to other hospitals.
His Royal Highness, who founded The Prince of Wales's Foundation for Integrated Health, said that the case for integrated health was now “finding firmer ground”.
The new centre at Okehampton Hospital means that local patients can receive the best of orthodox and complementary treatments.
The centre has a Japanese garden and a herb garden, which can be viewed from inside the hospital, helping to provide a more pleasant environ ment for patients.
The Prince described the garden, sponsored by the Japanese-based Johrei Society, as “absolutely wonderful” and said their emphasis on the importance of beauty had an affect on health and psychological well being.
After a tour of the hospital, His Royal Highness unveiled a plaque to mark his visit and praised what the hospital had achieved.
The Prince said: “From what I have seen today it does look as though you have successfully managed to draw together the different strands of healthcare and provide an integrated approach, which is something I believe in and have tried to support for the last 20 years.”
“Over 20 years ago, when I was President of the British Medical Association all hell broke lose when I suggested it might possibly be an idea to look at a more holistic approach.
“It is interesting to see now, 20 years later, some of the little chickens are flapping home to roost.
“What you have been able to achieve in incorporating a modern NHS hospital with a GP medical practice, and complementary medicine in a landscape design setting to facilitate enhanced recovery and well being, is, I think, a wonderful example of what can be done”.
The Prince continued: “I hope it is something that can be picked up and used elsewhere in the country as an inspiration.
“In the complex world of the 21st century, no single therapeutic strategy and no one approach to knowledge can have a monopoly on effective diagnosis and treatment for all conditions.”
Before he left to continue his day of engagements in Devon, The Prince unveiled a garden statue titled Mother and Child by Alan Biggs.
Afterwards, The Prince visited the Tiverton Almshouse Trust and its new accommodation for the elderly in mid-Devon.
The development at Tiverton is one of the largest almshouses built since the Second World War, with 40 homes for older people.
The Prince was visiting the Tiverton Almshouse Trust in his role as Patron of the Almshouse Association and to present the 2003 Almshouse Association's Patron's Awards.
During his visit to Tiverton, The Prince presented awards to Combe Park Almshouse in Bath; Charles Day‘s Almshouses in Edgware, North London and Archbishop Holgate‘s Trust Hospital in Hemsworth, West Yorkshire.
His Royal Highness said he was “enormously impressed” by the development and said: “Almshouses continue to play a crucial role in the care of the needy throughout Britain.”
The Prince also met residents of the almshouses, including one of his former teachers, 89-year-old Stephanie Greenhalgh, who taught him art at Gordonstoun School for four years until 1966.
Earlier in the day, The Prince went on to view the 19th century former Exevale Hospital at Exminster, now converted into a 119 private dwellings.
The former hospital, a Grade II* listed building was built in 1845 by the eminent Victorian architect, Charles Flower.
The Prince of Wales's Phoenix Trust, founded by The Prince in 1996 to work with local communities to find new uses for old buildings, became aware of the site and proposed that the spectacular listed complex should be saved. It has now been sympathetically converted by Devington Homes into a number of private homes.