TV host Jeff Brazier opens sick children facility in Whitechapel

TV host Jeff Brazier made a visit to a short-stay house which enables families whose children are being treated in hospital to live close by.

The Dancing on Ice star headed to Stevenson House in Whitechapel to officially open the extended facilities which will allow more parents with seriously ill children to stay within walking distance of The Royal London hospital.

Run by charity the Sick Children’s Trust, the building has housed more than 2,000 families since opening in 2003.

Mr Brazier, who had a friend who used the house, said: “If my children, god forbid, had to go into hospital you wouldn’t catch me anywhere but by their side, so I can really appreciate the value of this charity.”

Stevenson House will become even more important in coming years as The Royal London is being rebuilt behind the current site on Whitechapel Road and the paediatric and neonatal intensive care units will have a quarter more beds.

Joan Coker, house manager, said Stevenson House is one of the charity’s busiest facilities of its kind in the country.