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We are delighted to announce planning permission has been agreed, in principle, to build a new, state-of-the-art hospice for the community, by Bray Lake, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
Yesterday's (18 July) announcement follows several months of planning and consultation before the planning application was submitted. We will now finalise the details and secure the option to purchase the land from local business, Summerleaze, and start the process towards building the new hospice.
Debbie Raven, Chief Executive, Thames Hospice, said: "This decision represents a huge step forward in the provision of specialist palliative and end-of-life care for our local community.
"Our Hospice, first opened 30 years ago, is no longer able to keep up with the volume of people who need our care and services. Pine Lodge, our much-loved existing building, has been added to, altered and expanded many times and we cannot adapt it any further. Patient numbers are increasing dramatically and we are caring for more patients with increasingly complex illnesses and symptoms. Put simply, the care we provide is outstanding but the building is holding us back. The new hospice will allow nursing and medical teams to continue to deliver exceptional care, without hindrance."
Set in more than eight acres, with stunning views across landscaped gardens and Bray Lake, the new hospice will have 28 inpatient beds in individual en-suite rooms. A new Day Centre (the Paul Bevan Centre) will offer a wider range of daily therapeutic and social activities for day patients and inpatients, and will allow the hospice to double its day service provision. A new Education Centre will be dedicated to promoting palliative care excellence ensuring staff receive ongoing training so patients get the best care. We will also be able to offer education to others in our community.
Debbie Raven continued: "Thames Hospice is a vital part of the local community and its expansion will address ongoing end-of-life care needs. Once built, the new hospice will be an unrivalled state-of-the-art facility for the residents of East Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire, and one I know they will be incredibly proud of. We hope to open the doors of the new facility in 2020."