Brand new Marie Curie Hospice, West Midlands to open

Marie Curie Cancer Care’s brand new £20 million Hospice for the West Midlands is soon to open its doors to patients and families for the first time.

Current in-patients will be moved to the beautiful new purpose built hospice in Marsh Lane, Solihull, by ambulance from the existing hospice on Solihull’s Warwick Road at the weekend (January 12).

New in-patients and Day Centre attendees will be getting their first look at the new building when they arrive next week.

It has taken over 18 months and 140,000 man hours of construction to build the hospice using 90,000 bricks to form the165 rooms. 700 trees have been planted to landscape the gardens. Marie Curie has had to raise £7 million locally to build and equip the hospice and amazing support from the public, local businesses, schools and groups means the charity now has only the last £1 million to raise.

Director of the BIG build appeal to raise the £7million, Noel Cramer, said "Although we are opening the hospice to patients our fundraising appeal will continue until we raise the final £1 million, so we’d invite everyone to help us at this crucial time. The final £1 million is going to be the toughest to raise, a bit like the last mile of a marathon to run, so we hope our supporters can help us reach the finish line with one final push."

Hospice Manager, Liz Cottier said: "We are so excited about moving to our new home. I can’t wait to welcome patients, families, staff, volunteers and health professionals into the new hospice at the weekend. It will be an emotional moment seeing the first people step into our wonderful new facility.

"Above all, I am so pleased and proud that we can now offer more privacy and dignity to our patients, as well as facilities designed specifically for families. The purpose built hospice will enable staff to care for our patients in much better surroundings; it really is a fantastic environment for our staff to work in.

"The new hospice has a café adjoining the foyer area which is open to all so we do hope that over the coming months many locals will pop in for a cup of tea and enjoy a view of this beautiful building which their efforts have helped build for the West Midlands."

The official opening of the hospice will take place later in the year.

To find out more about how you can help raise the final £1million needed visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/bigbuild.

If you would like to know more about the new hospice and its services or if you are a healthcare professional and would like to find out how to refer your patients, visit www.mariecurie.org.uk/westmidlands.

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