Highland Hospice hopes raised in quest for new building
A MAJOR fundraising effort has enabled Highland Hospice to reach a significant milestone in its building appeal and seek tenders for a new, state-of-the-art in-patient unit and upgraded facilities.
Launched last April with a target of £4.5 million, the fund has already topped £2.7m. A big push is on to raise the remaining £1.8m. But the cash pledged so far has allowed the hospice board to look for developers for the new unit.
Fundraising will continue throughout the building process which it is hoped will commence in April next year with an anticipated completion timescale of 12-14 months.
Highland Hospice chief executive Kenny Steele: “This moves the project from the planning phase to the delivery phase. All being well we should begin building at the end of April.
“I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the Project Build Appeal so far which has given us the confidence to move to this next stage. There remains a significant fundraising challenge ahead of us, but I am confident that the people of the Highlands will ensure we succeed.”
The new building will provide a modern, bright and airy in-patient unit, along with redesigned day therapy spaces, a quiet sanctuary room and increased physiotherapy, occupational therapy and bereavement support facilities.
These developments are funded through the Project Build Appeal and the decision is being hailed as a significant step in rebuilding and modernising patient and family accommodation at the 26-year-old hospice.
There will be nine single bedrooms and one shared room in the new unit, improving patient choice and increasing the levels of privacy and dignity offered. The bedrooms will be much larger, making it easier for the clinical team to care for patients and allowing relatives to stay with loved ones in the same room if desired.
All bedrooms will also have improved access to external spaces, allowing patients to use the gardens and riverside location of the hospice.
There will also be much-needed family accommodation for loved ones, three counselling rooms and the scope to develop a virtual hospice which aims to extend the reach of hospice care across the Highlands.
The current in-patient unit, at half the size of current guidelines, no longer offers the standards of privacy, dignity and choice that patients and their families deserve. It is made up of only four single and two shared bedrooms, all of which are too small, and there is also a lack of space for families and bereavement support.
During the works, the in-patient unit will have to move to a temporary site in the Fyrish ward at Invergordon County Community Hospital. The day therapies centre and family support team will move to a unit in Cradlehall Business Park which is being specially adapted to meet the needs of these services.