A new facility which will allow families living with terminal illness to spend precious time together has today opened at Birmingham St Marys Hospice. The opening of the family centre is the result of an exciting partnership between the Hospice and Help Harry Help Others (hhho.org.uk), which donated funds, along with the Department of Health.
The Harry Moseley Family Centre at Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice will enable families to stay at the Hospice to be with a loved one whilst medical and nursing staff manage the symptoms of an illness, assess a patient’s readiness to return home, or during their precious final days.
Funding of £100,000 from Help Harry Help Others enabled this much needed addition to the Hospice’s existing facilities to go ahead. This support is in additional to major funding from the Department of Health’s ‘Grant Programme for Hospices’.
The Harry Moseley Family Centre is a comfortable, multi-purpose space offering families the privacy they need during a difficult time, but with the safety of 24 hour care from the Hospice’s specialist medical team. It is fully accessible from the existing Inpatient ward, flexible enough to accommodate the needs of two families or extended family members, and has its own fully accessible garden.
Georgie Moseley, Help Harry Help Others Founder and Chairman said: “We are honoured to have supported the opening of this new family centre. I know how important it is for families to be together when a loved one is living with terminal illness, so it’s wonderful for us to be able to support Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice to help more families to spend that precious time in comfort and safety.”
Tina Swani, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice Chief Executive said: “We pride ourselves on the support we offer to the entire family of an individual living with terminal illness. We encourage families to spend as much time as they need at the Hospice, and this new centre will help us to give families greater comfort, space and privacy during that important time together. We are so very grateful for the support of Help Harry Help Others. I know that this new facility will help many families, now and in the future, to build happy memories of a loved one at what is undoubtedly a difficult time.”
The design for the brand new centre has been created by architect, Paul Hicking. GI Sykes, carried out the construction of the building, in close collaboration with Arc Project Management.
