Hospiscare launch partnership to build flagship day hospice in Honiton
To coincide with Hospice Care Week (7th-11th October) and World Hospice & Palliative Care Day (12th October), local charity Hospiscare is announcing its plans to build a state-of-the-art day hospice in Honiton. Offering patients, families and carers easy access to a multi-disciplinary medical, health and social care team in one location, the new day hospice will provide invaluable services and support for the whole East Devon region.
Hospiscare currently runs day hospices in Exeter, Tiverton and Seaton Hospital. The building of the new East Devon Day Hospice is being made possible thanks to a grant of £510,000 from NHS England and generous pledges from Hospiscare’s sister charities and charitable trusts.
Hospiscare Chief Executive Glynis Atherton said: “This new day hospice will be built as a result of a partnership with Budleigh District, Exmouth and Lympstone and Sidmouth Hospiscare. Rural isolation is a major issue in the East Devon area and we know that there is a demand for flexible, locally based hospice care. We are all committed to excellent end-of-life care for people in East Devon and this centre will make a massive difference to the quality of life for patients and their families. Our existing Seaton Hospital-based day care service will transfer to our purpose-built facility on completion.”
Hospiscare have purchased a site on King Street, in central Honiton, and building work will start in January 2014, with a view to opening the centre in summer 2014. Set in beautifully landscaped grounds with plenty of parking, the new day hospice will be a haven of care for thousands of local people, offering complementary therapies in spa-like treatment rooms, a large and comfortable patient lounge, a beautiful garden, plus educational facilities for the training of healthcare professionals and students, and access to palliative care specialists for support, advice or treatment.
East Devon Community Nurse Angela Phillips, who has worked for Hospiscare for more than 21 years, said: “I am thrilled by the plans; it will provide a central facility in East Devon offering our tried and tested day care model, as well as enabling us to have ‘drop-in’ clinics for patients and their carers.”
Angela continued: “Hospiscare has an excellent working relationship with the Primary Health Care teams, and social service providers in East Devon, and I feel that this excellent facility will continue to encourage collaborative working with these, and other organisations.”
Also collaborating on the project is interior designer Naomi Cleaver, who will be consulting with the project manager and with nursing teams in Hopiscare’s existing hospices to ensure that patients visiting the new day hospice receive the maximum therapeutic benefit.
“Environment is fundamental to well-being, and the issues at hand go to the heart of what my design philosophy is about,” said Naomi. “We talk about our homes being loci of wellbeing, but it’s even more important in a health-giving environment. It’s well known that colour can influence our experience of a space, but it’s also about sound and smell, light and shade, artificial light and natural light, privacy and connectedness, and finding the right balance between all these aspects. I’m very excited to be involved with this fantastic project, and am delighted to be able to apply all the study that I’ve developed over the years in helping to make the East Devon Day Hospice the best of its kind.”
Although the grant from NHS England and pledges from the sister charities have enabled Hospiscare to purchase the site in Honiton and begin the build, the charity still needs to raise £250,000 to complete and finish the project, and provide the running costs for two years (which amounts to an extra £50,000 per annum). To achieve this figure, Hospiscare is launching the East Devon Day Hospice Appeal.
“The residents of East Devon have always been generous to Hospiscare and we thank them for this,” said Glynis. “We know that local people and companies will want to support our East Devon Day Hospice Appeal and there are lots of ways in which you can help. You can join us at a number of launch events across East Devon, including in Honiton on Saturday 12th October and Axminster on Thursday 17th October.”
Glynis continued: “The more money raised, the more services the hospice can offer. Hospiscare is the only provider of in-patient care in Exeter, mid and east Devon, and our community care is without parallel – at any one time, our teams care for 700 patients in their homes. By helping us to complete this new hospice for East Devon, you will be allowing more local people with terminal diagnoses to make the most of precious time, closer to home.”
For further launch events and more information on getting involved, visit www.hospiscare.co.uk or contact Sarah Smith on 01392 688063, email s.smith@hospiscare.co.uk
