Revealed: How Severn Hospice plans £4m transformation to care for patients at home
Severn Hospice is to spend £4 million on new buildings to help it care for thousands of terminally ill patients in their own homes.
New 'Living Well' centres will be created at the hospice's headquarters in Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury and also at Apley Castle, Telford, will also be extended.
A new two-storey building, with an therapy rooms, communal areas, a cafe and shop, will be constructed at the Shrewsbury.
In Telford, the existing building will be extended to provide similar services.
The final costs of the plans are yet to be confirmed, but are expected to be around £4 million.
The plans are part of shake-up of hospice care in the county, which will see more terminally ill patients cared for in their own homes.
It will see specially trained nurses providing services in the home which would previously have only been available in hospitals.
Shropshire Council gave planning permission for the new building at Shrewsbury last month, while Telford and Wrekin Council approved the Apley Castle plan earlier last year.
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The scheme will provide a more informal setting for patients who live at home but visit the centre, and also offer an improved range of therapies.
It forms part of the charity's Living Well programme, where people with terminal or progressive illnesses receive support in their own homes.
The idea is to provide levels of support tailored for each patients' needs, so they that their lives can be as normal as possible.
Heather Palin, deputy chief executive of Severn Hospice, said four out of every five patients that the charity supported were cared for in their own home.
"This is an important step in making our Living Well ambition a reality," she said.
“Most of our patients are now looked after in the comfort of their own home, with our inpatient facilities playing a supporting role.
"We will always have wards and strive to be a centre of excellence for our inpatient care but we are so much more community based these days and we need to ensure our facilities always match the changing needs and expectations of our patients.
“Now we have secured planning permission for both sites our board of trustees will decide on the appropriate funding strategy to take the proposals further.
"These are exciting and ambitious plans and it is only right that we plan carefully how best to fund this project.”
She said no new staff would be taken on at the moment, but envisaged future expansion as the scheme grew to support more patients.
