Lewis-Manning Hospice Care has announced that it is relocating to central Poole, following the sale of their building at Crichel Mount which has been purchased by local charity and care home operator, Care South.

Lewis-Manning Hospice Care has answered questions below about the sale and what the move means. 

Who is buying the Lewis-Manning Hospice Care building?

The building at Crichel Mount has been bought by Care South, a Poole based charity who operate care homes and home care services across the south of England.

Care South has worked closely in support of Lewis-Manning Hospice Care and has granted the charity a license to enable the uninterrupted continuation of the day hospice, lymphedema and breathing clinics for a further six months whilst the new premises are being refurbished. Lewis-Manning Hospice Care is relocating its hospice to a more central building, closer to town, closer to Poole Hospital, with parking and significantly improved transport links.

How much money did you receive for the Crichel Mount Lewis-Manning Hospice Care?

We received enough money to repay the loans that were initially taken out to help pay for our building and services. This gave us a smaller amount of money to put towards a new building, closer to town, closer to Poole hospital, with parking and significantly improved transport links. However, we still need to ask the public to help us by raising funds for our charity in order to continue and expand our services into the future, closer to home.

We are grateful to Care South for agreeing to the additional six month license at Lewis Manning Hospice, at no rent, to enable the Trust to secure and fit out the new premises.

What about the donations that people made to Lewis-Manning Hospice Care building originally?

The generous donations made by the public, trusts and grant making bodies will be reinvested in our new building. We have agreed with Care South that we can take with us the equipment that we need to continue to deliver our services into the future, closer to home.

When will the move take place?

We have agreed with Care South that we will be staying at our hospice in Crichel Mount for up to 6 months while we make some adjustments to our new home in order to make it fully fit for our purpose. We hope to make the move early in 2020. We welcome offers of help and support from our local community with the building and decorating works.

How far away from our existing building is the new building?

The new building is 2.5 miles from our existing building and 8 minutes in the car.

When will the new services open?

Our existing day hospice and clinics will continue to run in Poole. We are in discussions with partners in Swanage and Wareham and are starting to raise the money to fund these new services. We hope to announce the opening of our new closer to home services early in 2020.

How will you staff the new services?

We hope that our existing staff will be keen to work with us in the new service areas as well as continuing their work in Poole, we will also be recruiting locally for nursing and healthcare professionals.

How will moving to the new building benefit the local community?

Our new building is more central, it is much closer to Poole hospital, and it is closer to town with significantly improved transport links with both bus and train services, and additional parking. In addition, our new services will provide support to people where it is really needed, closer to home for the needs of the local community.

Why did Lewis-Manning Hospice Care decide to relocate?

The new premises located on Longfleet Road, Poole, will enable the Hospice to provide a more central location for people at the end of their lives, within easy access of transport networks, closer to Poole Hospital with improved parking facilities. This move will allow us to continue to deliver our well established day hospice and clinics in Poole, whilst expanding our services into areas where it is really needed, closer to home.

Does this move mean the future of Lewis-Manning Hospice Care is uncertain?

Together with our staff and Board of Trustees we are now developing our three year strategy as well as plans to expand the work we do across the East Dorset community. We want to help even more local people in East Dorset at the end of their lives and to do this we need to ask for local people to support these new services through charitable donations, holding events, company support which is critical to our expansion.

How will the new services be funded?

As the only independent hospice in East Dorset we rely on the amazing generosity of the local public and we will be working even more closely with local communities to ask for their help in funding these important new services. A gift of just £5 per month would help us enormously to bring quality hospice care to where it is really needed, closer to home.

How do you think Marjorie Lewis-Manning would feel about these plans?

We believe that Mrs Lewis-Manning would want to ensure the future of the Hospice that she so cared about and that she would fully understand the need to change the way in which we deliver these important services for people at the end of their lives in order to meet local need. The idea that in some areas of East Dorset no accessible day hospice service exists and that we are planning to fill that gap, with her legacy, we believe would be of comfort to Mrs Lewis-Manning.

What about the current site where Mrs Lewis-Manning lived, she gave that land to become a hospice?

The new more centralised premises located in Longfleet Road, Poole, will enable the Hospice to provide a more central location for people at the end of their lives, within easy access of transport networks, closer to Poole Hospital with improved parking facilities. From this site we will go out into the community to provide new Closer to Home services.

Care South will provide a residential care home for the frail elderly at the Crichel Mount site. That way the current site will continue to provide care for the elderly and continue to be operated by a charity.

Care South has suggested and is delighted to confirm that the new home will be known as Marjorie House in honour of Lewis-Manning Hospice Care’s founding benefactor.