Improvements to patient care and privacy, enhanced support for patients with dementia and neurological conditions and some much needed refurbishment to part of Trinity Hospice and Brian House Children’s Hospice are now possible thanks to a successful grant application to the Department of Health.

The Department has announced that Trinity Hospice and Brian House have won cash for a series of capital improvements – though the grant of £283,000 is less than we asked for, it is a welcome boost at this challenging financial time.   

The in-patient building is now over 25 years old and is starting to struggle to meet the current needs of the community. Patients are more complex and need more space for their care to be provided safely.  Families want to be able to spend quality time with a loved one in a private space, sometimes wanting to stay overnight with them in the same room. The money will go some way in helping the hospice make its environment more appropriate for patients with dementia, with improved lighting and better visual cues to help them remain as independent as they can be.

David Houston, Trinity Chief Executive said: “It has been an anxious wait because this funding is highly competitive and was well oversubscribed. We had to prioritise elements of the bid, and we are happy to hear that we have been successful in securing about two thirds of what we asked for. However, our need for continuing local support remains as high as ever as demand for our service grows.

“One-off capital expenditure of this nature is extremely difficult for us to cover, because the vast majority of money we receive goes on the day to day cost of patient care.

“We would have found it very difficult to embark on improvements on this scale without help from the Department of Health. Our thanks go to all the partners who backed our application with letters of support. 

“Hospices from all over the country were competing for a share of the same pot of cash, so we knew it was unlikely that they would meet the full need, but this grant is very good news indeed and together with continued local support we hope to be able to continue to care for people on the Fylde Coast.”