More than 350 people came along to the public open day of HRI's new A&E facility last Thursday.

Doors opened at 8am to a very special group of visitors - 20 two-and-three-year-olds from our on-site nursery at HRI. They were each given a teddy to take home to commemorate the visit. 

Cath Manning, Nursery Manager at Spring Cottage Day Nursery, said: "What a wonderful learning opportunity the children had learning all about the different roles within the hospital.

"The children experienced what it would be like to visit A&E as a real life patient and we were very impressed with Dr Mark (Davies) and Nurse Tom (Ladlow) making all our teddies better"

Speaking to the Huddersfield Examiner on the day of the open day, Head Nurse for Urgent and Emergency Care, Tom Ladlow, said: "These facilities are world-class and this is a good news day for the people of Huddersfield. The services we can deliver take us to the next level.

"If I could, I would show people around these facilities all day every day."

Tom described the new A&E as much more spacious as well as having facilities that the old unit does not have. He felt 'complete elation' when he first stepped inside the new unit.

"As you first come in, you will see the stark contrast - we are really pushing forward the services we can provide. Our community now has world-class facilities, so we can provide better healthcare. Patients will be cared for better, our teams will feel better, the environment is much better."

You can watch a video round-up of the open day on CHFT's YouTube channel.