Severn Hospice secures grant to improve facilities
Patients at a Shropshire charity are set to benefit thanks to a one-off grant of £387,000 from the Department of Health.
Severn Hospice is one of 176 hospices to be awarded a share of £60 million government funding to improve hospice facilities in England.
The charity submitted its bid to the Department of Health Capital Fund towards the end of last year to help finance a much needed refurbishment of its in-patient facilities in Shrewsbury.
Run in partnership with Help the Hospices, the funding was committed as part of the Department of Health’s strategy to provide high quality care for all adults approaching the end of their life.
Heather Palin, nursing director at Severn Hospice, said: “We were delighted to learn that our application had been successful. Although the grant will not cover the full cost of the work it will go a long way to improve patient facilities on our Breidden ward at our Bicton Heath hospice.
“We have been caring for patients on our Breidden Ward for nearly 20 years and although we have worked to maintain it over that time it is now quite dated and in need of significant upgrade to provide a better care environment.
“As part of the work we will be upgrading patient bedrooms making them single occupancy with en-suite facilities. A new lounge area, conservatory and quiet room for patients and their loved ones to enjoy will also be created.
“The current facilities on our Breidden Ward are in need of upgrading to augment privacy and dignity for our patients and a better working environment for our staff for many years to come.
“The work will take around 27 weeks to complete, during that time we will be working hard to minimise disruption to our patients and services.”
This stage of the development is the second part of a three phase scheme to improve patient areas at the charity costing around £1 million.
