New £5.5 million residences opened

Eminent doctors of yesteryear are being honoured with the opening of a £5.5 million development of 144 new flats for junior doctors at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital tomorrow.

The new complex will be opened at 11.30am on Tuesday, March 4, by Michael McKee, son of hip replacement pioneer Mr Ken McKee, a former orthopaedic surgeon at the N&N.

Micheal McKee is flying into Norwich from is Monte Carlo home to undertaken the honour in memory of his late father, who pioneered hip replacements (with the McKee-Farrar hip replacements) at the N&N in the 1950s and 60s.

Michael McKee himself has a McKee-Farrar hip replacement, and said he was delighted to be opening the residences in which one of the accommodation blocks has been named after his father.

“I feel very honoured and proud to be asked to open the new doctors’ residences and I am sure my father would have been delighted that his contribution to orthopaedics has not been forgotten in the 21st century” said Mr McKee.

The new homes have been built for Swan Housing Association to provide high-quality affordable homes for those providing vital services at the hospital. The Rydon Group built the homes and Homewood Housing Association, on behalf of Swan Housing Association and the hospital trust, manages them.

Each of the three residence blocks is made up of six bed-sits with en-suite bathrooms, communal kitchens and lounge areas and disabled facilities on the ground floors. The three blocks have all been named by eminent former N&N doctors; Eade House, Bulman House and McKee House.

The residences also boast a communal hall for junior doctors with a laundry, recreation and storage space, and a bar. On site car parking is also available for the residents.

• Sir Peter Eade was a physician appointed to the N&N in 1858 and he retired in 1888. After his death in 1915, he was described by The Lancet as “one of the best known provincial physicians in the country.” Dr Eade was also three times Lord Mayor of Norwich.
• Michael Bulman was a general surgeon who joined the N&N in 1925 and in 1936 became East Anglia’s first consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He retired in 1963. Mr Bulman was also one of the founders of the University of East Anglia and was a Lord Mayor of Norwich.
• Ken McKee was a world-renowned pioneer of total hip replacements and he joined the N&N in 1939 as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon. At the N&N, Mr McKee helped develop the hip replacement known as the McKee-Farrar prosthesis.