On October 28th 2002, Weston Hospicecare staff moved into their new base at Jackson-Barstow House, in Thornbury Road, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare.   The former care home was aptly re-named after the benefactor whose legacy had made the Hospice's £2 million dream come true.

Colin Sills, Chief Executive said, "We haven't had to scrimp and save.  For the first time we have new furniture in the Day Care Centre where 14 people a day are registered."   

"The rooms are spacious with en-suites for in-patients, the corridors are of an appropriate size, the lighting good, with sensible night lighting."

"The end result of refurbishing the tired old building coupled with the new build is a phenomenal facility for Weston which is bright, airy, tranquil, with fantastic views and state of the art equipment."

It was July 2000 when the hospice trustees, only just aware of a very large legacy, were shown Russell House, a redundant residential care home that would not be economically viable for the Council to update.Several chapters later, we have enlisted the services of David Hutchison & Partners of Bath as architects and they are overseeing the conversion of the building into what will be known as Jackson-Barstow House.

The Hospicecare team - trustees, staff, volunteers and so forth have devoted a lot of time to poring over drawings and costings and holding discussions to get what is needed into the plans. Our over-riding priority has been to ensure that it must be better for our patients and their families and carers and we are quite certain that this will be the case.

On 10th December, builders started work on creating this single site for all Weston Hospicecare's services. Work is now well under way and we would hope to move in during August this year. This project will enable all the hospice team to be on one site for the first time since 1997 when the pilot In-patient Unit was opened. This should lead to easier communication and better use of resources.

The Building Russell House was built in 1964 and was used as a residential care home and more recently as offices for Social Services staff. Part of the building is being made suitable for Day Hospice, Outpatients, Community Nursing, offices etc with only minor refurbishment. As we explored the best way to create the In-patient Unit (IPU), it was immediately apparent that the existing bedrooms were too small and did not have en-suite facilities. For various reasons, it wasn't possible to re-partition the rooms and the most viable option turned out to be to demolish one double storey block of bedrooms and to replace it with a purpose-built, single-storey block. Most of the In-patient Unit bedrooms will face south towards the garden and the church-on-the-hill while services, entrances, car-parking etc will be on the north side, so they do not impinge on patient activities.

Each of the ten IPU bedrooms have en-suite facilities and access through a French window to a private patio. Patients will be able if they wish to have a view of activity in an 'internal street' through a window with an integral louvered blind. There will also be a Carer's Overnight Room. Day Hospice accommodation will include a Sitting Room and a Craft Room, each with French windows to a patio and garden, a Dining Room and a Quiet Room. The Patient Support Wing  includes accommodation for a Lymphoedema Clinic, Physiotherapy, Complementary Therapy, Chiropody and Hairdressing rooms as well as a special Children's Counselling Room.

The Education Wing  include a Library, a large Training/Meeting Room, a Seminar Room and up-to-date IT facilities. Key features of the scheme are a central courtyard viewed through a two-storey glass screen and a Chapel, also looking on to the courtyard.

There will be fund raising events during the year including :

• Strawberry Cream Teas - June 
• Christmas Bazaar - November held in The Victory Hall, Uphill

Contact details and more information at www.westonhospicecare.org.uk.

Material on this page courtesy of www.westonhospicecare.org.uk

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