St. Joseph’s Hospice has been awarded £10,000 by the Big Lottery Fund to investigate developing new services and improving facilities for patients and their families.
The grant will be used to conduct a feasibility study which will look at how the hospice can offer a broader range of services to more people as well as improving the facilities for inpatients and their families.
The study will explore whether it would be viable for the hospice to offer services such as wellbeing, holistic therapy, counselling and bereavement care through a day hospice setting to people living with life limiting conditions out in the community as well as to inpatients.
It will also examine the possibility of improving the overnight facilities for the families of inpatients and developing a larger social hub at the hospice for families and patients to spend time together.
St. Joseph’s Hospice, on Ince Road in Thornton, was opened in 1974 in a refurbished old house, now know as San Jose. This building was extended in the 1980’s to provide more rooms for patients and, thanks to grant funding, the patient rooms were upgraded in 2014.
In 1992, a second building, St. Francis House, was built containing some patient rooms alongside education facilities. This building was redeveloped in 2011 so that it could be fully utilised for patient care.
St. Joseph’s Hospice is now the oldest and largest hospice on Merseyside and it can provide specialised end of life care for up to 29 inpatients. However, the facilities for patients’ families are limited.
As the hospice operates across such a large geographical area, covering the whole of Merseyside and West Lancashire, there are far more people living in their own homes that would benefit from being able to a range of access hospice services, many of which are already offered by the majority of hospices across the UK.
Mike Parr, Chief Executive of St. Joseph’s Hospice, said: “We are delighted to have received this substantial grant from the Big Lottery Fund which will help us to see how we can improve our facilities and develop the services we offer so that we can reach more people living out in our communities. I believe there are many people living in our area who would benefit significantly from being able to access a range of palliative care services and support.
“It is very early days, however, and we will consult fully with local residents, hospice families and our wider community once we in a position to share the findings and any proposals. One thing I can promise is that any developments at the hospice will be of significant benefit to our local area and to the families and patients we serve.”