Saints legend Matt Le Tissier meets patients and staff

Matt was visiting the medicine for older people (MOP) wards in his role as ambassador for the Saints Foundation. The organisation is currently promoting its Generation Gains project, supported by Zurich Community Trust, that specifically works with older people over the age of 65 and Matt was keen to see how the work being done at UHS linked to that.

The former Saints player turned TV pundit, spent time chatting to patients and joined in a therapy class that was held in the recently refurbished activity hub, part funded by Southampton Hospital Charity, where older people can improve their mobility and activity levels.

“It is suggested that ten days in a hospital bed can lead to approximately 10% loss of muscle mass in people over the age of 80, so you can see how important it is for older people to keep moving during a stay in hospital," said Hannah Wood, an advanced physiotherapist at UHS.

“Here at UHS we want our patients to feel empowered and help prepare them for going home by offering a diverse range of mental, physical, emotional and social support programmes, so an initiative like Generation Gains is great for enhancing the support we already offer patients.” 

Speaking about his visit, Matt said: “As a Saints Foundation ambassador, I’m proud to see the work we are doing alongside Southampton Hospital Charity. Both initiatives really help to transform lives across the city and I’m really happy to lend my support.”

Saints Foundation and Southampton Hospital Charity have been working together to support the work of the charities with older adults and hosted a golf day on Thursday, 26 September 2019.

The activity hub was officially opened last week by another former Saints player Mike Earls. Read the full story on our news pages.