HRH, The Princess Royal speaks at Leuchie event
We were honoured to have our patron, HRH, The Princess Royal, join us at a reception at Edinburgh’s iconic Signet Library to launch our plans to double the impact of the charity by 2026. Her Royal Highness met with our supporters and partners and spoke passionately about her engagement with us and her support for our ambition to do more for more people.
The Princess Royal, who is a regular visitor to Leuchie House, spent time with service users, volunteers and supporters from the business, academic and scientific community.
The event showed interdisciplinary allied health care and research collaborations with Musselburgh's Queen Margaret University, the National Robotarium and Bioliberty are helping people with neurological conditions to improve health, re-enable independence and tackle the loneliness some experience as a result of their disease.
Find out more about our partnerships in enabling technology
It also highlighted the gaps in health services and the scale of the issue in Scotland, where 100,000 people are disabled by a neurological condition and one million that are living with caring responsibilities.
Mark Bevan, CEO Leuchie, added: “It is critical to families in desperate need right now, to the future of health care services and for the public purse, that we re-imagine respite and short breaks from care.
"Providing, health clinics, care at home, enabling technology and self-catering accommodation are a few examples of how we are doing this.
"At Leuchie we have reimagined what is possible and embraced a bold new empowering approach which draws on the experiences of our guests and their families, involving them in the design of new ways of providing respite and services which look beyond an important short break.
"With investment, Leuchie can build a positive future, by reaching out beyond its walls and using its expertise and base as a beacon of excellence and as a test bed for developing future care initiatives for all of Scotland.”
Leuchie is the only charity in Scotland to provide respite breaks with 24-hour expert care headed by an interdisciplinary allied health team made up of neuro-experienced nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists.
