Matt Dawson Praises New Hotel For Parents Of Sick Children

Family accommodation opens near Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital

Chiswick resident and rugby World Cup winner Matt Dawson, who campaigned for a meningitis vaccine following his son's experience with the illness, has given his support to a hotel where parents can stay while their children are sick in Great Ormond Street Hospital.

The five-storey Georgian house close to the hospital cost £3.5 million, of which £1.8 million was donated by Morgan Stanley the financial services company.

Matt Dawson

The Chiswick-based former England rugby union scrum half spoke last year of his family's two weeks of hell, following the hospitalisation of two-year old Sami with meningitis B.

Being able to stay with his wife in charity accommodation near Great Ormond Street Hospital and take shifts at Sami’s bedside made all the difference. “When you don’t know whether your child is going to survive an hour or a day, you want to be there for every single second,” Dawson said.

“Having a room where you can have a moment to yourself to digest all the information that’s being thrown at you... it’s very much overlooked but it’s an absolute godsend.”

The ex-England captain, 44, returned to the hospital to open Morgan Stanley House.The £3.5 million, eight-bedroom hotel in Sandwich Street was part-funded by an £1.8 million donation from staff at Morgan Stanley the financial services firm.

About 300 families a year are expected to stay at Morgan Stanley House, which adds to parent accommodation already available at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).

More than half of the children’s hospital’s patients come from outside the capital and priority will be given to their families.

The terraced five-story Georgian home provides GOSH with accommodation for up to eight families and can be configured to fit families of different sizes. With a holistic notion of care in mind, designers also provided communal space in the form of a large, full kitchen and a lounge area, so families can regain some semblance of normalcy and support one another.

The rugby star had called on the public to support an online petition, calling for a Government vaccination scheme for all children up to age 11, and not just those 2-5 months old. The petition had been signed by 580,500 people -the most signed on the UK government website.

October 20, 2017