by Molly Kerridge
Leicester City football club has announced it will be supporting the opening of a new mental health facility in Leicestershire.
The Beacon, located on the Glenfield Hospital site, is a new £8 million development by Leicestershire NHS Partnership Trust, to provide a safe environment for inpatients and their families.
The state-of-the-art facility is designed for young people struggling with mental health issues, and has welcomed its first inpatients this week.
As well as having the club’s support for the grand opening, which has been postponed to the new year, LCFC fans donated funds to install an astro-turf pitch at the site.
The Beacon will be a 15-bed unit, a five bed increase from the current provisional ten beds, and will aim to help young people with eating disorders as inpatients, which until now was a specialist treatment that patients often had to travel for.
Susan Whelan, Leicester City’s Chief Executive, said: “As a club, we really care about helping our local community, who do so much to support us too.
“We are proud to have entered into a new partnership with LPT to help promote positive mental health and emotional wellbeing, which is an issue for many young people.”
The new sports pitch at The Beacon will be used for activities for the patients, such as football, meditation and yoga.
“I’m absolutely delighted that we have been able to fund the outside sporting area at The Beacon, and we very much hope that it will help promote recovery.
“On behalf of LCFC, I’d like to wish the CAMHS staff and young inpatients all the best as they move into their new facility.”
Although the official opening ceremony has been postponed, information on The Beacon and a virtual online tour is available here.
