Benson Suite at Salisbury Hospital helped grieving process says parent
Tamar Vellacott lost her son in early 2022
A parent who use the Benson Suite says the room helped the grieving process following the loss of her son in early 2022.
Tamar Vellacott lost her son Albie in February 2022 and says the experience her and her partner went through allows them to look back without negativity.
"We don't find looking back on his birth being like a really horrible event. It was actually really beautiful and calm," she said, adding: It's made it an event that we love to talk about. We love to talk about his birth and we love to look back on it, and that's definitely helped the grieving process."
Tamar added that the suite wasn't what she had expected: "On the morning that we were admitted, we were absolutely terrified that we would just walk into this kind of grey corridor and it would just be really kind of grim.
"But actually we found there was lovely artwork and poems and the walls, which were really lovely. And we chose one for the funeral from the wall."
Tamar praised the staff for being "knowledgeable" and "understanding of the situation". She said: "You go in there, kind of flustered, thinking, 'What are we going to do after? What are we going to do when we leave?'
"There's so much to know, so many plans to make and that was all sorted before we even left. Because they're just so on the ball."
Support for parents goes beyond the time in the suite, with Tamar being presented with hand and footprints, a keepsake box as well as teddy bears for Albie and his siblings.
The Benson Suite at Salisbury District Hospital has marked 10 years of supporting parents who experienced the tragic loss of their baby.
Since opening in 2013, the dedicated suite has supported hundreds of families by providing private spaces for families who have lost a baby before or after birth can spend time with them and grieve.
The suite was funded by Stars Appeal and named in recognition of Sir Christopher and Lady Benson who donated the required funding for the suite. Lady Benson passed away last year.
Sir Christopher visited the suite to mark the decade of support it has provided and meet with staff and some of the parents who have been supported there.