“This unit is imperative in the fight against Cystic Fybrosis. I've found from chatting to the patients that their life expectancy has gone up because of the state-of-the-art facilities, and the great relationship they have with the staff. It is great to have this unit in Wythenshawe."
Andrew Flintoff
Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff opens Cystic Fibrosis Centre at UHSM
Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a disease that affects around 8,500 people in the UK and claims the lives of three people every week in Britain.
On Monday 28 June, England and Lancashire cricketer Andrew Flintoff officially opened UHSM’s Cystic Fibrosis Centre based at Wythenshawe Hospital. Andrew’s own family has been treated at UHSM over the years and he was only too happy to open the new facility.
Professor Kevin Webb, Consultant in Respiratory Medicine and Cystic Fibrosis at UHSM, said: "I would like to say a hearty thank you to Andrew for officially opening our wonderful CF Centre and showing us such excellent support. Although the enormous medical advances of the last 30 years mean that CF patients now live further into adulthood, there is still no cure for the disease and it is important that we deliver the very best possible service for our patients who repeatedly come to hospital throughout their lifetimes."
"This Centre has fantastic new inpatient and outpatient facilities that are dedicated to the needs of CF patients and will dramatically improve their care and their hospital experience."
Survival rates have improved dramatically over the years, assisted by each region in the UK having its own CF Centre. Professor Webb heads-up the North West Adult CF Centre at Wythenshawe Hospital which has just completed an £8 million expansion to provide extra capacity to accommodate its 350 patients aged from 17-70 from all over the North West.
The expansion has provided a new, larger ward with 22 inpatient bedrooms, additional physiotherapy rooms and a kitchen. There is also a new dedicated CF outpatient department with eight clinic rooms. The dedicated kitchen with two, soon to be three, chefs is extremely important for CF patients who have very high calorific needs and often lose significant amounts of weight when they are unwell. This kitchen facility will offer patients a catering system that is designed to suit their needs and is not available exclusively at set meal times.
Originally opened in 1993 as the first purpose-built building for CF adults, the North West CF Centre has established a national and international reputation for clinical care and research into CF.