Telford hospital DIY SOS project enters next stage as volunteers are thanked – with video

Three houses on the site of Princess Royal Hospital have been stripped of their interiors to make way for a full refurbishment, including new kitchens, bathrooms and communal lounge areas.

Once they are completed, they will be made available for junior doctors for free, as an incentive for them to join The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (Sath).

The project is being jointly run by Telford & Wrekin Council and Sath with help from a number of volunteers, traders and companies, who are offering their time, expertise, materials, fixtures and fittings.

More than £11,000 has been offered by eight town and parish councils and a number of individuals, which has been matched by Sath’s charitable fund.

Recently, all the contributors were invited to PRH to see how the project was progressing and to be thanked for their contribution to it.

Take a tour of one of the houses with Chris Goulson from Telford & Wrekin Council – one of the managers of the project:

Dr Jenni Rowlands, director of postgraduate medical education at Sath, told them: “What we want to do in Telford is attract people because it’s a really great place but nobody knows we’re here.

"It’s so important for the junior doctors who come out of medical school with £100,000 of debt having spent five years working really, really hard and who want to work really hard and enjoy their time here. The feeling I want us to emanate from the trust is, that we care, that we are excellent at training, that we will produce excellent doctors.”

Telford and Wrekin's Mayor, Councillor Raj Mehta, said: “It’s important to renovate these houses in order to attract staff to work at the hospital.

"I am confident this project will help recruit the doctors the hospital needs."

Work on fitting new bathrooms started this week, and will be followed by the installation of new kitchens in January.