NAAFI pays for Sultan’s improved rehab facilities
By Matthew Hibberd
REHABILITATION services at HMS Sultan have received a significant boost, thanks to the generosity of the Navy Army and Air Force Institute – the NAAFI.
The MoD’s in-house provider for catering and leisure services across the Armed Forces is responsible for shops, bars, cookhouses and the NAAFI fund. It also supports members of the Armed Forces who are out on exercises
Formed in 1920 and in service since 1921, the NAAFI’s role is to support Forces communities by improving their quality of life wherever they are stationed.
As a non-profit organisation, every year the NAAFI reinvests its surplus funds back into projects to improve the welfare of Armed Forces communities.
And a £13,000 award was made by the NAAFI to improve Primary Care Rehabilitation Facilities – PCRF – at HMS Sultan, in order to enhance what was on offer, with four new TVs, a public address system and presentation facility, which allows for lessons to be delivered and for the rowing and cycling programmes to be used on a one-to-one basis for recuperation.
Surgeon Commander Charlotte Griffiths, Sultan’s Principal Medical Officer, said: “The upgrades made to the PCRF gym have allowed us to modernise our approaches to rehabilitation and provide a welcoming environment for our patients.
“By enhancing the facilities we anticipate that patients will further engage with their rehab pathway. This will have a significant effect on the recovery and deployability of HMS Sultan personnel.
“We would like to thank the NAAFI Welfare Grants team for their kind donation and strongly encourage other units to apply for a welfare grant by April 22.”
Mary Pittuck, Head of HR and Risk at NAAFI, said: “Over the last year, we’ve been celebrating our 100th anniversary, and we’ve pledged to plough in at least £750,000 each year over the next decade to help fund projects that spread a little bit of welfare in areas where we aren’t necessarily present.
“So far, we’ve delivered some mindful and sensory gardens, children’s play centres, gym facilities, communal areas and community hubs, anything that adds to the lived experience of our personnel and their families, we will look to deliver. It’s great for the guys who are getting the benefit and for us still to be involved.
“The project at HMS Sultan is great, they’ve done a brilliant job in enhancing the gym and adding to the facilities, especially where people are going through rehabilitation.”
PICTURED: Sultan CO Captain John Voyce cuts the ribbon to formally open the PCRF enhancements. Photograph by Leading Photographer Pepe Hogan
