High school staff make visors for new cancer hospital

Face visors designed and made in a local high school are being donated for use in Liverpool’s first dedicated cancer hospital.

The face visors, designed to be worn as PPE (personal protective equipment) against the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus) and other infectious diseases, have been donated to frontline NHS workers in the new haemato-oncology ward at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool by staff from the Design Technology and Engineering Department at Neston High School.

Teacher of Engineering and Head of Year 12 at Neston High School, Laura Griffiths, along with fellow teachers and staff, handmade the visors using a design they adapted themselves. The group have produced nearly 3,000 visors in total and donated them to NHS trusts and care homes across the local area. The cost of producing the visors was met by the school.

For the past seven years, Laura’s mother Moira has been receiving treatment for leukaemia at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre’s haemato-oncology ward, currently situated in the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. The day case and out-patient facilities will move to the new cancer hospital when it opens on this week )27th June), with inpatient services moving later in the year.

The ward at the new hospital will provide cancer treatment and services to patients from across Cheshire and Merseyside with blood cancers, as part of a £162million investment in cancer care for the region. Clatterbridge Cancer Centre – Liverpool will open at the end of the month and play a vital role in the second phase of the NHS response to coronavirus by providing dedicated capacity for cancer care.

The new hospital will also allow quicker access to other medical specialties for patients who need it, thanks to its close proximity to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital and the opportunity for more clinical trials by being next to the University of Liverpool.

Laura said: “As a school department, we wanted to do something to support the NHS and The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is a hospital close to my heart as it is where my mum is currently being treated.

“In between supporting our students, my colleagues and I have been working hard to mass-manufacture the visors and distribute them to organisations that need them. I’m delighted they’re going to be used by the staff at the new hospital in Liverpool, who have continued to offer the best care to patients like my mum throughout the pandemic.”

Moira, from Thingwall in Wirral, added: “The staff on the haemato-oncology ward are wonderful and have looked after me so well. I’m so proud of Laura for supporting them in this way.”

Jane Tinsley, Lead Haematology Research Nurse at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust, said: “My team and I are incredibly grateful to the staff at Neston High School for supplying us with this protective equipment as we work to provide the best care for our patients during these difficult times.

“Health and safety is of the utmost priority and these masks will help to protect both patients and staff on our new ward.”