On Tuesday (February 9), Prospect Hospice welcomed its President, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, to officially open its new Outreach Centre at Savernake Hospital in Marlborough. She met staff and volunteers from the hospice and some of the donors who helped raise the funds to open the Centre.
The Duchess joined Angela Jordan, Prospect Hospice’s chief executive, for a tour of the new facility which opened last autumn following an appeal to raise £260,000 to convert and refurbish rooms made available by the hospital’s owners Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
The money raised through the appeal also supports the delivery during its first year of the hospice’s outreach services at the centre for patients, carers and families from the wider Marlborough area.
During her tour, The Duchess spent time with patients and families as they received support from the Hospice’s Day Care leader, Art Therapist and Bereavement Coordinator, and she chatted with patients and family members about their impressions of the recently-opened centre.
Angela Jordan said: “It has been our great pleasure to welcome HRH The Duchess of Cornwall to officially open our new Outreach Centre today. We were also pleased that she had the opportunity to meet with just some of the many people from this community who were instrumental in enabling us to open the Outreach Centre.”
“The Duchess’s visit highlights the fact that we are now making our Outreach Services available to people who live in Marlborough and the surrounding area, where previously they would have needed to travel many miles to access our care at the Hospice in Wroughton.”
“We are glad that the people of this community clearly shared our view that bringing our care and support closer was a significant development for local people.”
Kevin McNamara, Director of Strategy at the Great Western Hospital, said: “Everyone at the Trust is absolutely delighted that our unique partnership with Prospect Hospice has been able to bring vital end of life care closer to home for so many people living in Marlborough and the more rural areas of Wiltshire.
“We know how much stress and anxiety is associated with travelling long distances for care, so we’re extremely pleased to have been able to provide the space at Savernake Hospital for this new outreach centre. I’m certain it’ll make a massive difference to so many local people.”
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