Over the past few months, local hospice care charity Phyllis Tuckwell has been moving its patients, staff and services from its Hospice in Farnham to alternative temporary locations, in preparation for its new Hospice to be built on its existing site.

Earlier this month its last patient left the Hospice In-Patient Unit (IPU) and was taken to Kings Lodge care home in Camberley, where Phyllis Tuckwell has moved its IPU while its new Hospice is being built. This temporary IPU is located in a new 10-room wing of the care home and has been fitted out by the owner to suit Phyllis Tuckwell’s needs. IPU patients will still be cared for by Phyllis Tuckwell’s staff, as they would have been in the Hospice building, and will receive the same quality, compassionate care that Phyllis Tuckwell provides for all of its patients.

“The move went very smoothly, and all our patients settled happily into their new rooms at Kings Lodge,” said Jackie Johnson, Inpatient Services Manager at Phyllis Tuckwell.

Demolition of the old building is planned to take place in November/December, and building work will start from January 2024, with the charity aiming to move into the new Hospice by January 2026.

The new Hospice will transform the way in which Phyllis Tuckwell works, helping it to care for 3,000 people a year by 2040. It will include 18 ensuite inpatient rooms, a new wellbeing suite, an education suite, a café, family rooms, an exercise suite and a raft of new clinical and consulting rooms, and will be surrounded by beautiful, landscaped gardens.

Throughout the build, Phyllis Tuckwell will continue to offer its specialist services, ensuring that it is still able to care for its patients and their families. Although its IPU has had to be relocated, much of its community support will continue without any change, managed from its existing Beacon Centre site in Guildford and a new office facility at Headway House in Farnham. Its outpatient appointments and Living Well sessions will continue to run at the Beacon Centre. For more information on the new Hospice, please visit www.pth.org.uk/new-hospice