New centre for families of injured troops opens at Selly Oak

Feb 25 2009 by Paul Bradley, Birmingham Post

Families of injured troops recovering from life threatening injuries at Selly Oak Hospital will be able to live in a “home from home” less than a mile from their loved ones’ bedside, thanks to a new £1.7 million family centre opening this week.

Every year, 600 British casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan are treated at the UK’s main military trauma unit in Selly Oak.

Soldiers are flown thousands of miles from frontline action to the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine to receive the best treatment the military offers.

And now, relatives of the injured troops will be given the option of staying at the six-bedroom Norton House where they will get the privacy and emotional support they need.

The property is one of two houses funded by the Soldiers’ Sailors’ Airmen and Families’ Association.

Last year, the Birmingham Post backed SSAFA’s campaign to raise the £5 million needed to build and run the Norton Homes, both in Selly Oak and at Headley Court in Surrey.

Incredibly, the cash was raised just eight months after the campaign was launched.

Today, mums of soldiers who have previously been treated at Selly Oak Hospital welcomed the opening of the home as “invaluable”.

Frances Shine, whose 25-year-old son Stephen lost his right leg in an explosion in Basra in 2007, said: “It is difficult to put into words just how much difference this will make to families.

“Stephen suffered his injuries during his first operational tour of duty.