POOLE’S Lewis-Manning Hospice has sold its building and will move its services to the town centre, it has revealed.

The hospice – which closed the inpatient unit at its Lilliput site earlier this year – is to open a new base for its day hospice and clinics near Poole Hospital in Longfleet Road.

It says it has plans to expand its end-of-life services and provide support in the community.

It also wants to open day hospice services in other towns, starting in Wareham and Swanage and expanding across East Dorset.

The current site at Crichel Mount – which was bequeathed by local businesswoman Marjorie Lewis-Manning – has been sold to the charity and care home operator Care South.

Clare Gallie, chief executive of Lewis-Manning Hospice Care, said: “This is an exciting step for Lewis-Manning Hospice Care and it endorses our commitment to the local people and the community that we serve, support and care for.

“As we move forward, we are delighted to have been joined by five new trustees, expanding our board and bringing a broad range of experience and knowledge. Together we hope to open even more local hospice services and work within communities further afield to help more people at the end of their lives, closer to their homes.”

She added: “The move follows the difficult decision in April 2019 to close our six-bed inpatient unit – which cost us £1.2million per year to operate – due to funding sustainability in an area where other local hospices that are largely funded by the NHS are providing similar bedded services.

“It costs nearly £1.3m to run our charitable hospice each year. We receive just 20 per cent of our income from the NHS. I would like to ask the people of east Dorset to help us to deliver these new services by supporting us with a gift of just £5 per month, by asking the companies that they work at to support us, or by holding a fundraising event.”

Lewis-Manning has not said how much it sold the site for, but in 2009 it was valued at £1.2m.

The charity said: “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.”

Care South has allowed the hospice to stay at Lilliput for another six months and it will move in early in 2020.

Jeremy Allin, chairman of Lewis-Manning Hospice Care, said: “Lewis-Manning Hospice Care are sincerely grateful to Care South for granting a licence to enable us to stay at Crichel Mount for up to six months while adjustments are made to our new home at Longfleet in order to make it fully fit for our purposes and we hope to make the move into Poole early in 2020.”

Care South will turn the Lilliput site into a home for the frail elderly, named Marjorie House in honour of Lewis-Manning’s founding benefactor.

Marjorie Lewis-Manning, who died in 1987, left her house and its grounds to three trustees so a day hospice could be set up there.

The first patients were admitted in 1992.

Mrs Lewis-Manning had led a £3m fundraising effort for two body scanners at Poole Hospital.

Clare Gallie said she believed Mrs Lewis-Manning would understand the decision to sell.

“My understanding from people who knew her was that she was very clear headed business person and had a very kind heart and would understand a new model and how hospice care had changed over the years,” she said.

“We need to remember Marjorie Lewis-Manning was originally supportive of a day hospice and this is taking her legacy out to people and making it more accessible to people,” she added.