Unfortunately, this isn’t feasible, as the families that stay with us don’t know how long their children will be treated in hospital, for this reason we can’t take bookings; families can stay with us if their child is in hospital.

No. Our service is completely free of charge for families. We do ask that you pay a £25 room deposit, which is refundable on leaving the Ronald McDonald House. Many families choose to donate their key deposit to the Charity. There is a small charge if you need to use the washing machines and tumble dryers in the House.

If you need a room in a Ronald McDonald House, you must ask the hospital staff to refer you to us. Once your child has been admitted to hospital, the nurse on the ward will complete a referral form that is sent to the Ronald McDonald House. The staff at the House will allocate rooms and contact you on the ward when one is available.

As the occupancy in the House is very high we must prioritise families who are on our waiting list. We do this in consultation with the hospital and use certain criteria which helps with the final allocation of the rooms available. We assess each family on a case-by-case basis, however, we use four main criteria: – Which ward the child is on –  takes into account the degree of severity of the child’s illness – the distance the family has to travel – who needs the accommodation – the length of time the family is likely to stay

This is where together we fill out your registration form, talk about what the House provides and what as a Charity we expect from our families, including discussing some guidelines. This is followed by a tour of the House and finally you will be shown to your room.

We are open 365 days a year and are equipped with everything you would find in a family home. Families can get a good night’s sleep, prepare their own meals and feel at home, knowing that they’re just minutes away from their child in hospital. The House has 84 bedrooms, all en-suite, downstairs we have laundry facilities, kitchens, lounges, play areas and the garden. Kitchens – we provide everything you need to cook a meal, ovens, utensils, pots, pans, knives, forks and so the list goes on, all you need to bring is the food and decide what you would like to cook. Each family are allocated their own fridge/freezer and dry storage space to store their food. Bedrooms – Our 84 en suite bedrooms can accommodate up to four people on two single and two pull out beds. Bedding is provided by the House.  Most importantly, there is a phone, internal use only, so the ward can ring you and you can ring them, 24/7. Note, in our 15 longer-stay apartments (included in the total of 84 rooms) the facilities are different but the detail will be discussed with those allocated to this area of the House at the appropriate time. Laundry facilities – Washers and dryers can be used but there is a small charge and tokens need to be purchased at reception where we will give you soap powder too. Ironing board and iron can also be found here. We are aware that some families come with no provisions and therefore we do stock a small stock of toiletries and frozen foods that you can purchase in those emergencies situations, we charge these at cost price. Around the House we have several lounges where you can simply ‘chill out’ or watch some television, or go on the internet/wifi which is available throughout the House.

You are a guest of Ronald McDonald House an independent Charity totally separate from the Hospital. We would like to make your stay here as comfortable as possible, the one thing all our families have in common is a sick child, many families use the House as a break away from the stress of the Hospital. Therefore, it is important that the atmosphere in the House is as calm as possible and we ask for your cooperation and sensitivity towards others. While you are staying here we do have some rules and we would go through these in more detail when you are checked in. This will provide you with the ‘do’s and don’ts’, what you can expect from us and what we would expect from you. The main ones being no smoking, no alcohol or drugs allowed on the premises.

Families can stay for if their child is an inpatient at the hospital. We do a 30-day review on all our families which allows us to update your requirements and or changes in circumstances. Our average night’s stay last year was 17 days but we have a few much longer stays, one family currently with us have been here now for 8 years and another 7 years.

Yes – all we stipulate is that children under the age of 16 must be accompanied by an adult at all times. We have Family Support workers who do activities during the week with the siblings staying with us.

We acknowledge that you will need to go home from time to time, especially if you have been with us a while. We ask you to come to reception to inform us of your intention to go home, leave your keys with us and collect once you return. This is important for the Health & Safety, Fire Evacuation procedures, as we must have accurate information about who is staying in the House at any one time. You are able to go home for 2 days, without us needing to consider reallocating your room, just always keep us informed please.

As the House is family orientated we do expected you to keep your rooms tidy throughout your stay. Cleaning buckets and the hoover can be obtained from the main office to allow you to keep them clean. Families are also expected to clear up after themselves when using the communal areas.

Each Tuesday we will prepare a free meal for you and on a Friday morning you are welcome to join us for our ‘waffle’ breakfast. Occasionally our families are treated to a special culinary experience when guest chefs and their teams visit the House to prepare a one-off  'Tuesday meal.' In 2017 this included a roast dinner from the team at the Marriott Hotel Liverpool and a wonderful USA style thanksgiving dinner by chef to the stars, Chef Sean Paul Redding. These are obviously not every day event, but a lovely treat when they do happen.

The garden can be used from 8am until 9pm, 7 days a week. Of course, there is no smoking in this area but you will be able to relax, eat your tea out there or simply watch your children play on the climbing frame, but they must be supervised.

Mac House does not have any parking facilities, you can park your car in the main car park of the hospital. This is chargeable and will cost you £2.00 per visit. Any issues with car parking need to be taken up with the Hospital, Ronald McDonald House are not responsible.

In September 2015 the new Alder Hey Hospital opened, this is now a short 5 minute or so walk away from the House. You walk by part of the old hospital buildings, past the main car park, and you come to the entrance next to A&E which also gets you to the Wards.

Yes. The office is open from 8am until 10pm Monday to Friday.  Access after this time is by using the door code, in the interests of security please do not give this code to anybody else.  Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holidays the office is open from 9am to 5pm.  There is a safety / fire warden in the building during the night.

We welcome a limited number of visitors, please make sure that they sign the visitors book and leave by 9p.m. Please try not to have great numbers of visitors at one time as this impacts upon other families.

We have a dedicated team of staff who are here 7 days per week. Monday – Friday the office is open 8am – 7pm and during the weekends 9am – 5pm and a member of our team is available in and around the reception area 7pm to 10 pm Monday to Friday but not at weekends.  Outside of these hours, we have a Fire Warden to look after the House. We are here to help you and if we are unable to answer any questions you have we will always point you in the right direction to get this information.

Only the prime carer of the child, and the carer’s immediate family may occupy a room, most of our rooms sleep a maximum of 4 people. We unfortunately cannot accommodate anybody from your extended family. We will never allocate more than one room per family. Once a room is allocated we will not move you to another room.

Yes – we have a day center where families can relax, have a cuppa, watch television, play area for children and cloakroom facilities. This room is open from 8am – 9pm daily. Call us on 0151 252 5869 to discuss.

Helping families who are staying with us is always a high priority. If you need assistance, for example, if the fire alarms are activated, or you have a sensory impairment that makes it difficult for you to hear or respond to a fire alarm situation, please make this aware to a member of staff during your check in. For disabled persons with mobility impairments we have a number of bedrooms which have specially equipped wet room bathrooms – please note that these rooms will offer many of our disabled family members some very helpful adaptations but the rooms are not equipped to be universally accessible, which for instance means that there is no overhead hoisting available, or electric rise and fall beds. The beds in our accessible rooms are of the type that may be compatible with a mobile hoist but as each persons requirements for hoisting are different, and there is limited “transfer” room, you should initially assume that hoisting will not be available but…..there may be options so we will talk to you about your needs. Access around Mac House for a wheelchair user for instance is generally quite reasonable with flat or ramped access in most places with only a couple of areas inaccessible due to steps, but there are easily accessed alternatives. Our doors, including fire doors, can be awkward for some family members with a mobility impairment to use independently but in the main they are manageable and we will discuss any concerns with you during your check-in. There are two accessible toilets in the family areas on the ground floor with rails and grab handles but only front or one side transfer space. Mac House is not a full service hotel or lodging so it is the case that our accessible facilities are possibly more limited than you may find in some places. However, we are a welcoming environment to all and our intention is always to do everything possible to support all who stay with us.  

Yes, if your child is being treated in an NHS hospital you can be referred to stay in a House.

Yes – each visit is treated in the same way as if it was your first time. The referral for accommodation is the same, the ward can be asked to put a referral through using Meditech once you have been admitted to the ward.

Obviously, we would expect you to leave your room on the day your child is discharged. In order that we can prepare the room for the next family, please inform us as early as possible.

As we rely solely on public donations to allow us to provide this excellent service and with our running cost of £600,000 per year we would welcome your support. Fundraising packs are available at reception and any member of staff will be pleased to talk to you about your ideas. We have a fundraising office and the fundraising team would be more than willing to help and support you, if needed, with your fundraising ideas.

Yes we are an independent charity raising our own funds through the generosity of everyone who supports us.

McDonalds was fundamental in the setting up of Ronald McDonald House 24 years ago and crucially provided some of the funding to do this, at that time Ronald McDonald House Charities was not active in the UK, therefore Mac House was set up independently of this Charity. Ronald McDonald House Charities hold the license which allows us to be recognised as a Ronald McDonald House, and to use this name. Whilst not directly funded by McDonalds, we are proud to say that as a Corporate Charity Partner, McDonalds locally does help support the charity in a variety of ways, for example they administrate our payroll for us. Importantly local McDonalds restaurants, as well as fundraising for the national Ronald McDonald House Charities, also do some fundraising for us as we are in fact their ‘local’ House. McDonalds ‘crew’ as they are known did a fantastic job of raising £30K for us in 2016 & we are also lucky to have McDonald representatives on our board of Trustees, who do a great job of governing & supporting the House and Charity.

Alder Hey Hospital, alongside McDonalds Restaurant, funded the original setup of Ronald McDonald House, and we are immensely proud that to this day our Charity still includes ‘Alder Hey’ in our name. They continue to help support the house in a variety of ways, for example they pay for some of our utility bills. Alongside McDonalds and Ronald McDonald House Charities, Alder Hey is a great partner to Ronald McDonald House, and in return Mac House plays a genuinely important role in offering the families of often very sick children a way to stay together, stay close to the bedside and contribute to their child’s recovery. The House that love built sits proudly in the grounds of the new Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and this incredible world class facility makes such a difference for children, every day, every week, every month, all year round and playing our part in that care and support is a privilege. It remains the case that the help we do get from being associated with all three of these amazing organisations is very much a proud part of who we are, but we still must strive to raise the vast majority of the 600k pa it costs to keep our doors open for well over 2,000 families every year. It’s a tough ask and we can only do it thanks to all our friends and supporters, individuals, families, groups/associations and our corporate / business supporters.

Yes ! We are developing our merchandise online shop and with the launch of this website we hope to have some initial items ready for you to buy and help support Mac House in the process !! Our aim is also to have these items available at Reception in the House. Please don’t hesitate to ask about our merchandise, either at Reception or email us on : denise.Byrne@rmhliverpool.org.uk or gillian.Wilson@rmhliverpool.org.uk

Obviously, your focus will be to look after your poorly child. The House itself always needs little jobs doing, cutting the grass, stuffing of envelopes, general duties within the House and if you are willing to help and there is something we needed during your stay, then I am sure we can help you help us!

Yes but please discuss with the Fundraising team first as there are a number of logos in use and we need to ensure you are able to use the one most appropriate to your fundraising activity and of course that it’s exactly the right one for Mac House. We can also discuss the use of other promotional materials with you. Just call the Fundraising team on 0151 252 5869 or email us.

You can visit our Reception area during your stay and they will be delighted to accept your donation and issue a receipt. If you had wanted to make a donation during your stay but didn’t have time and have now left the House, please get in touch with the Fundraising Team on 0151 252 5869 or email us. You can of course also use our JustGiving.com page which can be found here :

The Mac House JustGiving.com page

 

We would love to keep you in touch with everything going on at Mac House. You will shortly be able to fill out the newsletter form here on this website, but this facility is not available immediately upon the launch of our website so if you use the link below and cannot see a newsletter form please email your contact details to Denise.Byrne@rmhliverpool.org.uk and please add conformation that you would like to be kept updated about all our activities at Mac House.  Your support and interest in being up to date with all things Mac House means a lot to us.

Sign up for our newsletter