For families travelling to Birmingham – one parent can always stay at the bedside of your child and if both are staying, there will usually be a room available at the Ronald McDonald house next to the hospital. If it is full you will be put on the waiting list and given a room as soon as possible. If there is no alternative you can book a hotel room, which will be covered by patient travel up to an amount of £85 a night. Ward 8 will be able to suggest hotels they use regularly. You will be sent travel reimbursement forms from Patient Travel and will be able to claim retrospectively. Expenses for meals will be reimbursed at a rate of £15 per day.

• The most convenient accommodation to Kings is in Listen Lodge on the hospital campus.  While priority is given to patients/carers from Northern Ireland in Listen Lodge, there can be no absolute guarantee that rooms will be available.  Please remember also that only one relative is permitted to accompany a patient. To book accommodation, phone Paul McKie (social worker) on 020 3299 4920 or contact him by email – paul.mckie@nhs.net
• If Paul is unavailable, phone the NI patient travel team on 028 9536 3171 or 0300 555 0115. Emergency out of hours is 028 9044 2062 or,alternatively,  please contact Kay on 07737 718493 or Jim on 07715 167837 for further assistance.

Transplants are not carried out in the RVH. Adult patients are normally referred to King’s College Hospital London ( https://www.kch.nhs.uk/)  and children will be referred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital ( https://bwc.nhs.uk/birmingham-childrens-hospital).