1. What is Motor Neurone Disease (MND)?

Motor neurone disease (MND) affects the nerves – called motor neurones – in the brain and spinal cord. MND is a life-shortening disease with no cure. Although the disease will progress, symptoms can be managed to help achieve the best possible quality of life.

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2. Is the Rob Burrow Centre for MND open now?

The Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease was officially opened on Monday 3rd November 2025. Building work has been completed less than 18 months after Rob died, by a wide team of dedicated contractors and project leads.

Key Dates:

• • Final designs for the centre were published in February 2024.
  • In June 2024, the first spades went into the ground - just one day after Rob's death was announced.
  • In December 2024, the £6.8m fundraising target was reached.
  • On Monday 3rd November, the centre was officially opened BBC Breakfast with a ribbon cutting by Rob's six-year-old son Jackson and consultant neurologist Dr Agam Jung.

The new centre stands as a testament to courage and community, having been made possible thanks to a £6.8 million fundraising campaign, led by Leeds Hospitals Charity and supported heavily by Kevin Sinfield and the wider Leeds Rhinos and Leeds communities. More than 17,000 donors have contributed so far, and the charity is continuing to fundraise as part of ongoing efforts to transform lives for people living with MND and to support their loved ones.

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3. Can I still donate and fundraise for the Rob Burrow Centre for MND now the centre is open?

The Rob Burrow Centre for MND, inspired by the late rugby legend opened to its first patents in November 2025. But our journey doesn’t end here! We know fundraisers want to continue to support MND in Leeds, to ensure the Rob Burrow Centre can be a true centre of excellence for patients and their families.

In the same way we support all of our other hospitals and CSUs, the MND team will be able to apply to us for further funding. We plan to continue to fundraise to ensure the centre can adapt to the needs of patients and their families in the future and also expand the care on offer. We’re now focused on raising funds for things like additional equipment, a therapeutic garden, family support services, holistic therapies and for the first time in Leeds, new research programmes. 

Any staff member from the centre will be able to apply to the charity for a funding grant and we plan to support the staff with ongoing projects; things like family support, memory making, new technology and improvements to the outdoor space.

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4. Why was a new MND centre needed?

Originally built with care for infectious diseases in mind, the previous home of the Centre was showing its age. Significantly, the technology relating to the care needs of people with MND has moved on, whilst the building remained the same.

The MND centre was located on a busy multi-purpose ward not built with MND patients in mind and without the ability to be fitted with equipment and facilities for those who are physically impaired.

Over the past ten years, referrals to the Leeds MND centre have doubled, with 40 new referrals each year. MND patients are also being diagnosed earlier so are living with the disease for longer.  To continue to provide the best quality service, the team need access to facilities tailored to their patients' specific needs.

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5. Who was Rob Burrow CBE?

Rugby League legend Rob Burrow was born in Pontefract in 1982 and spent his entire 17-year career representing Leeds Rhinos.

He made nearly 500 appearances for Leeds, winning eight Super League Grand Finals, three World Club Challenges and two Challenge Cups. He also made 15 appearances for England.

Rob was diagnosed with MND in 2019, and since then his family have worked tirelessly to help raise awareness and funds for several charities, including our appeal to build a specialist MND centre in Leeds.

Rob and his wife Lindsey, became Leeds Hospitals Charity’s first ever patrons in 2023. He was awarded at CBE in the 2024 New Years Honours, alongside his great friend and former teammate Kevin Sinfield.

Rob Burrow died in June 2024 at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield age 41.

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6. How did the appeal come about?

The work that Rob Burrow did to raise the profile of MND and to boldly share his journey with the disease has raised the profile of MND significantly. His tireless work to further knowledge and understanding has allowed others to recognise their condition earlier.

It is thanks to Rob, his family and your donations that a new purpose-built care centre of excellence will be built, as a positive and fitting legacy to the work that Rob has done in this area.

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7. Why isn’t the Rob Burrow Centre for MND being funded by the NHS?

Our NHS hospitals receive basic funding from the government. We raise funds for projects, above and beyond what the NHS can provide, to support the latest in healthcare innovation and technology, the treatment of rare conditions and to help reduce health inequalities.

Thanks to your donations, we provide over £6.6 million every year to support projects that make a real difference to staff, patients and families across Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

The funds needed to make this exceptional centre a reality are above and beyond what the NHS can provide for people living with MND and their families.

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8. What will the Rob Burrow Centre for MND be like?

The new centre covers a space of more than 1,000m² and the designs are impressive, arranged as a series of three primary forms with a light and spacious atrium, and surrounded by the green trees of the Seacroft site.  Wheelchair-accessible parking to serve the facility and newly landscaped garden are key parts of the centre.

Patients can benefit from real-world situations when testing devices and mobility aids and specialist areas for speech and language therapy, dietetics, neurology, respiratory and palliative care, as well as functions including a large therapy space, a procedure room and an area to allow patients to digitally ‘bank’ their voices if they use a digital aid to support communication.

The building will provide holistic and seamless care at a one-stop centre, allowing a greater sense of cohesion and stability for patients. MND patients have complex, changing needs. By designing the centre to meet these needs, all patients who are treated here will receive the best care they can for their condition.

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9. Is there anything like this already in the UK?

While other MND research and treatment centres exist, The Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease will be the first of it's kind in the UK to have its design led by the holistic needs of the patient and their family, creating a supportive environment that complements the expert team providing the care.

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10. Where is the new centre located?

The Rob Burrow Centre for MND is located at Seacroft Hospital, just off the main road (York Road - A64). The new centre will help reduce travel across hospital sites and be much more accessible for patients with mobility issues.