More help for hospices, including Help the Hospices, as Charities Board announces grants worth £43 million

In 1999 the National Lottery Charities Board has awarded 39 awards to hospices worth £11.8 million. Five more hospices and palliative care centres benefit from Lottery grants awarded today.

Help the Hospices was founded in 1984. The organisation is dedicated to supporting hospices across the UK to help them to give the best possible care to terminally ill patients. This includes people being cared for in hospice in-patient units, day care centres and at home. The money raised by the charity supports hospices by funding the training of staff - principally hospice doctors and nurses - providing funding for equipment, the pump-priming of key posts and research into the care and treatment of the dying.

The grant of £168,473 to Help the Hospices will equip and furnish the organisation’s premises at the end of a major refurbishment programme. The building is to be known as ‘Hospice House’ and will provide a resource, conference and intelligence centre for the hospice movement, as well as offices for the charity’s staff. There will also be secretariat facilities for the national professional hospice associations.

Marie Curie Cancer Care receives two grants today to develop palliative care services for terminally-ill cancer patients. The organisation receives £827,000 towards building a care centre in Bradford’s inner city, which will provide 16 in-patients beds, an out-patients clinic, day care services and home care support. In Hampstead, north London a grant of £450,000 will be used to develop eight single in-patient beds and improve local day care facilities.

St Barnabas Hospice Trust in Lincoln receives £471,000 - the largest grant the Charities Board has ever made in the East Midlands. It will enable the Trust to build a day care centre for terminally-ill patients across Lincolnshire, allowing them to attend day clinics and physiotherapy. A home service will also be set up which will allow terminally ill people to remain within their own homes.

The Pasque Hospice looks after adults and children with life-limiting conditions. The grant of £570,622 will build and equip a purpose-built five-bed children’s hospice and hydrotherapy pool benefiting children in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.

Janet Paraskeva, Director for England, said: "Hospices provide a vital service - but many have struggled to stay afloat recently. In 1999 the Charities Board has awarded over £11.8 million to hospices, and we welcome new applications.

"Hospices provide a range of services that aren’t available on the NHS. For example, the £471,000 we are awarding today to St Barnabas Hospice in Lincoln will pay for a new daycare centre. The heart of this centre will be new training facilities for carers of terminally ill people, so patients can continue to live at home while receiving the best possible care at the hospice during the day.

"This kind of imaginative provision will improve the quality of life for many people - and that is the basic purpose of the National Lottery Charities Board."

David Praill, Chief Executive, Help the Hospices, said: "During 1999, grants from the National Lottery Charities Board have provided tremendous support to hospices throughout the UK. This support has helped to fund the building of new units and the provision of new services. The result will be to help hospices to provide even better care for terminally ill patients and their loved ones."

Media enquiries: Robert Blow 0171-747 5227/ Martin Valentine 0116-258 7023