A NEW treatment room is being equipped at a Poole hospice which will bring overnight stays a step closer.

Thanks to a grant from the Dorset Cancer Care Foundation, this is an important step towards the Lewis-Manning Hospice at Lilliput providing end of life care for patients.

Having provided specialist palliative nursing day care for more than 22 years, the hospice was recently rebuilt on the site, to enable the care of patients overnight.

Services continue to be developed, including the opening of bedrooms for overnight and respite stays, vastly benefitting patients and carers.

The grant, worth approximately £18,500 is a big boost for the charity.

"The impact for Lewis-Manning will be to enable the inpatient unit to accept patients overnight who have more complex care needs and, in particular, who need supervised general medication and/or controlled drugs," said Rachel Lapworth, director of development.

"Without this room being properly fitted and appropriate storage arrangements being put into place, we cannot care for those patients," she said.

"We are extremely grateful for the support of Dorset Cancer Care Foundation, and we look forward to working with them closely over the coming years as we continue to develop our services for the benefit of patients in the East Dorset community; and, ultimately to respond to the overwhelming need for end of life care."

The charity, which currently supports more than 650 local people living with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses, received a glowing report from its last unannounced Care Quality Commission inspection and is currently phasing in the opening of its in-patient bedrooms.

The hospice moved into its state-of-the-art building at Crichel Mount Road in 2012. It has 15 en-suite bedrooms on the ground floor, all with their own private terrace, from which to eventually offer respite, rehabilitation and end of life care.

It currently offers a range of services including a day hospice with specialist nursing care which includes creative arts, aromatherapy and other holistic treatments, a lymphoedema clinic, breathlessness and physiotherapy clinics.

Approximately 20 per cent of funding comes from the hospice's contract with NHS Dorset CGC. The remaining £65,000 a month comes from fundraising and the hospice shops, although as it begins to open its beds these costs will substantially increase.