Martha Lane Fox opens new respiratory centre

Martha Lane Fox officially opened the Lane Fox REMEO® Respiratory Centre at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill yesterday (Wednesday 22 October).

The new unit is the UK’s first purpose-built centre to ‘wean’ respiratory patients from mechanical ventilation and enable them to eventually return home.

It will operate as a satellite to the world-famous Lane Fox Respiratory Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

Baroness Lane-Fox was co-founder of Lastminute.com and is now Chancellor of the Open University and Chair of the digital skills charity go ON UK.

She is also the great niece of Baroness Felicity Lane Fox who was a champion of the rights of people with disabilities and a driving force behind the fundraising campaign that led to the opening of the Lane Fox Respiratory Unit at St Thomas’ in 1989.

Baroness Lane-Fox said: “This is a new and exciting model of healthcare that allows specialist care to be delivered through innovative use of technology. The virtual access to specialist consultants to support nurses in the management of complex respiratory patients is breaking new ground. This is a major step forward in the integration of technology and healthcare that will help to improve both patients’ experience and outcomes.”

The new unit in Redhill is the result of a public-private partnership between Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, BOC Ltd and REMEO Healthcare Ltd - BOC and REMEO are subsidiaries of The Linde Group.

Dr Nicholas Hart, Clinical Director of both the Lane Fox Respiratory Unit at St Thomas’ and the new Lane Fox REMEO Respiratory Centre in Redhill, added: “Moving patients from intensive care to an environment more conducive to recovery will aid their recovery and enable their transition home.”

Andrew Harvey, Head of BOC Healthcare and REMEO Healthcare, said: “We would like to thank our partners at Guy’s and St Thomas’ for their assistance in bringing this centre to fruition. We are planning further centres in other parts of the UK in due course.”