Ensuring our charity is Fit For The Future

Ensuring our charity is Fit For The Future, a briefing from our Executive Management Team on Wednesday 16th April 2025

We have some exciting news to share with you.  We’re pleased to announce an exciting new refurbishment project at Mount Edgcumbe Hospice.

In 2010/11 we undertook a major £1.3m extension at St Julia’s Hospice, demolishing a dilapidated cottage and building the outpatients/reception/seminar room as well as extending the inpatient ward to provide additional bedrooms. We’ve continued to invest in the building by installing solar panels and improved insulation during the last year. Ongoing improvements will include new glazing.

We now have the opportunity to invest in Mount Edgcumbe Hospice to bring the building up to the patient privacy and dignity standard of St Julia’s by replacing the 4 bedded bays with single bedrooms. We’ll also create a Therapies Hub in the current outpatients area, as well as a new entrance to admit patients. The current reception will remain for visitors, staff and volunteers, but may move for a period during the works. The new patient reception will allow us to introduce two beds where patients will be assessed before being admitted.

We can do all this following a successful Trusts and Grants fundraising campaign, which has been carried out over the last year.  Together with support from the capital grant recently announced by the Government, we’re now able to start the refurbishment project.

This upgrade will cost £1.1m and represents a significant investment for our charity.  Along with the recent capital expenditure on insulation and solar energy at both hospice sites, we’re delighted to be progressing our ambition to ensure we’re “Fit For the Future” and able to continue to provide the highest quality of care for patients and their families in Cornwall.

The redevelopment of Mount Edgcumbe Hospice will be a significant one, which will begin in early summer this year and run into early 2026. A Steering Group has been formed, chaired by Will Hood, Director of Finance and Resources, and supported by George Elworthy, Fit For The Future Project Manager and Lisa Shephard, Clinical Lead.

We recognise that there will be disruption to the services we provide but the Steering Group are putting plans in place to manage the impact and these plans will be constantly reviewed.

As the project commences we may ask you to work a bit differently for a short period.  This might mean you’ll be asked to work from home where possible or from a different base, such as Daniels Lane or St Julia’s.

We appreciate you’ll have many questions on how the redevelopment affects patients, staff and hospice volunteers so we’re creating a frequently asked questions list that will be available on our intranet, staff and volunteer area on the website and in All Together.  There’s also a Fit For The Future dedicated email address, which is  FFTFquestions@cornwallhospice.co.uk  so you can contact the Steering Group direct.

We’ll keep you briefed throughout this exciting project and want to thank you for your understanding during the disruptive period. The end result will be worth it both for our patients and for our future.

A4 booklets about the project will be available soon.

Best wishes,

Paul, Gina, Will, Frazer