STRATHCARRON HOSPICE’S NEW CARRON VIEW WING EXTENSION OPENING

Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West opens new Hospice extension that offers new facilities and the space to deliver even better care for patients

 

Strathcarron Hospice new extension, the Carron View Wing, was officially opened on Friday 15 September by Michael Matheson, MSP for Falkirk West. This extension will make a significant difference to staff, patients and their families, and the local Hospice is grateful for the two generous Gift in Wills which enabled them to build this new space. 

Your local Hospice has been caring for patients and their families from across all our communities for over four decades, and although Strathcarron has made improvements over the years, these new facilities and space will enable the Hospice to continue to deliver better service and care for patients.

This welcome extension includes the staff changing area, new consultants’ offices, a large meeting room, and a new laundry. These new areas will allow patients and staff across departments to benefit from more comfortable spaces, as well as access to up-to-date facilities. By relocating the laundry room, we can expand the patient kitchen, as well as free-up space for more advantageous use, for example, creating more rooms to accommodate family guests overnight.

Irene McKie, CEO Strathcarron Hospice, “As a Hospice, we need to fund this kind of work ourselves. The NHS arrangement with Hospices in Scotland, is that they only partially fund services, not capital. This new building falls into the ‘capital’ category, as does much of our redecoration and upgrading of the Hospice building. We also have to fully fund our Information Technology (IT) equipment and software licences and we now need to spend over £50,000 annually on licence fees alone. This is self-funded, funded by our incredibly generous supporters. With the NHS funding only 1/3 of our service costs, we need to raise £14,632 every single day to keep our vital services running”.

Many our staff require IT to enable them to do their day to day work and one of the key IT licences is for these computerised Patient Records System. This highly secure and confidential system increases efficiency, in cost and time. There is minimal paper filing, printing and postage, but most importantly, patient records are updated at pace and with ease, ensuring seamless team to team communication, to directly benefit patient care.

Irene McKie continues, “We must also ensure that the Hospice is warm, windproof and watertight - another financial pressure on top of running costs. We need to continually replace, upgrade and fix as we go. The result is that our patients tell us that we do not look and feel like a hospital. As soon as they walk through Strathcarron Hospice doors, they can relax, they feel comfortable and safe.  We understand that if a family has entrusted their loved one into our care, they need to feel a real sense of confidence that we will look after them well: to know that our care standards are high, in every sense of the word”.

To date, our outgoing costs are manageable, but despite positive improvements in fundraising and retail, a deficit is expected at the end of the year.

We are is projecting income of around £1.5m from Gift in Wills, but, this is not guaranteed. With some local solicitors donating their fee to Strathcarron Hospice to draft up customer Wills in the month of October, it is a great opportunity for individuals to draft up or review a wills. If everyone gifted just 1% of their estate to us, this could be a funding game changer, year on year for Strathcarron Hospice.

Please visit Leave a gift in your will to for further information, plus other current future fundraising events and other ways in which you can support All fundraising events.  Alternatively, call the fundraising team on 01324 826222 or email [email protected]