FOREWORD FROM THE HONORARY PRESIDENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2021
2021 has been a challenging year. There have also been outstanding achievements.
The refurbishment of Rainbow Ward, funded entirely by LATCH, is complete and is nothing less than a transformation. Nothing illustrates so well the immense progress made in providing facilities for the best care of children with cancer and leukaemia than the contrast between Rainbow Ward as it now is and the arrangements at Llandough Hospital when LATCH was founded at the end of 1982. Then the children were admitted to West One, a traditional long ward with a row of beds on either side, each with a chair for parents to sit, and often to sleep throughout the long nights. The nurses were in a separate room along the entrance corridor to the Ward. The Ward was shared by children with many different illnesses, often with those who had asthma and other respiratory conditions.
By December 2021, Rainbow Ward in the Children’s Hospital, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff admitted patients and parents into spacious single-unit beds for privacy and to support infection control. Entertainment systems and 21st century healthcare support have been designed to ensure the well-being of both patients and staff, with the nurses’ station placed centrally within the Ward.
2021 witnessed the funding of clinical psychology provision for the patients and families transfer from LATCH to the Children’s’ Hospital after four years of LATCH funding. This is an example of what is now a familiar path where first the doctors, and then social workers or families identify a need for patients which can’t be met out of the current hospital budget so they turn to the charity for help.
At LATCH, the children come first. That is what the medical staff, our social workers, the administration team, our branches, volunteers, fundraisers, donors, supporters and the trustees are dedicated to achieve. Making the children’s lives the best they can be is what LATCH is for. Thank you to all who helped to bring that about in 2021.
JUDGE PHILIP PRICE QC
