Dad's death inspires hospital room makeover

A health care assistant has hand-painted a feature wall in a hospital quiet room to make it more welcoming for families who could be receiving distressing news.

Frea Brown has spent the past few months painting a rainforest-themed mural at the Woodview mental health facility in Whalley, Lancashire, where she works.

Her mum, Angela Brown, said Frea was inspired after being told her dad was going to die in "the most awful room, full of old bits of furniture and the walls were grim".

"People being in hospital is awful. The last thing you want to be looking at is horrible walls and surroundings," Angela said, adding it would have made "a massive difference" if the room was more welcoming.

Frea said the new mural on Greendale Ward has "made people feel a lot more positive when they're in there".

"We're putting people's family members in that room, potentially going through a really devastating and distressing time," she said.

"From our experience you're sitting in quite an empty room, there's nothing to distract you, no talking points, no warmth to it."

Frea, who is studying to be a mental health nurse, said patients and staff at the facility on the former Calderstones site all helped to come up with ideas on the design of the artwork.

"I threw together some ideas and got a sketch going," she told BBC Radio Lancashire.

She added that her colleagues "have been so incredibly supportive ".

"I literally came in one day and said 'I feel like I want to paint this wall' and my manager said 'yeh, go for it'," she said.

Her mum, Angela said her husband Eric died in Royal Blackburn Hospital last May.

"He'd been in about five weeks, and we were given the sad news that he wasn't going to come home," she said.

"But they took us into the most awful room, it was full of old bits of furniture and the walls were grim.

"When you're being given devastating news like that, you're sort of looking round and not really taking it in, but we'll never forget those surroundings.

"Being taken into that room and given such terrible news inspired Frea cheer people up a bit.

"It's really nice to see her artwork finally getting some recognition."

Ward manager, Angela Craven, said the mural has "created a different area, a different space and a nice environment".

"It's created so much conversation and it's nice to see something positive about hospitals," she said.

"It just stops it being so clinical, it makes it more homely."

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