Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Hospice to open doors
Patients ready to return to St Andrew’s site after £9m overhaul is completed
Staff at St Andrew’s Hospice are preparing for the big move back to their transformed Henderson Street home. The facilities have been completely refurbished during more than a year of building work.
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St Andrew’s Hospice will welcome patients to their £9million refurbished building next week – with staff describing the transformed facility as “far exceeding all expectations”.
Patients will move back into the Airdrie hospice’s renovated Henderson Street site from next Wednesday following more than a year of reconstruction works to ensure that it is fit for the 21st century.
Volunteers, staff and supporters are currently being taken on tours of the upgraded facility, which includes both single and shared rooms, state-ofthe-art technology, improved visitor facilities and courtyard garden access from every room.
Hospice fundraisers are delighted with the results of the renovation, for which planning first began five years ago – and are reminding supporters that there is still more than £3million to be raised to complete the required fundraising for the project.
St Andrew’s chief executive Bruce High told the Advertiser: “All the feedback has been extremely positive and we can’t wait to get back.
“We’re really looking forward to working in an environment where everything has been thought of and I can’t see how anybody could fail to be impressed.
“We’ve seen it every step of the way and now it’s finally finished you realise how far it’s come; and despite having seen everything along the way, we’re looking at it through new eyes now that it’s all come together and people are visiting to see it for the first time.
“The design is thinking about being in a patient’s or visitor’s position.
“Everything is more spacious and comfortable. There’s more privacy for families who can feel that they aren’t being overheard or impinging on others. And things like having a fridge for each patient makes a difference in creating a home-from-home atmosphere.
“Our staff are blown away by it and have given great feedback. It’s a relaxing environment and of all those who’ve visited to see round the new hospice this week, there hasn’t been a negative word from anybody.”
He added of the work of contractors CCG, architects JDDK, structural engineers Woolgen Hunter and mechanical engineers Atelier 10: “It took two years to design the new hospice, it was taken back to a blank canvas.
“It’s nice to see the whole thing come together and it’s a really exciting time in the hospice’s history.”
The hospice has been based at its Henderson Street site since 1986 – and it was back in 2013 that staff and trustees began to discuss an upgrade to improve its rooms, garden access, and necessary heating, lighting and plumbing improvements.
Fundraising for the capital appeal began in earnest in 2015, and patients moved out to temporary facilities set up in two wards at Wester Moffat hospital in Airdrie in January 2017 as rebuilding work got underway.
Now the transformed hospice building has 21 single rooms, each with their own outdoor access which allows beds to be taken outside, plus personal TVs, fridges, patient hoists and storage for medical equipment and people’s possessions.
The rooms include two larger spaces funded by Macmillan for patients with young families to visit and stay, while there are also three multi-occupancy rooms for patients who prefer to share, each with their own private spaces.
Other features of the new hospice are an assisted spa bathroom, physio gym, family sitting rooms, the conservatory – which can be used by families and also hosts special events for patients – plus the chapel and the tranquility room, with stained glass window and a view of the gardens.
The visitor entrance now gives direct access to the Dove shop and cafe, while patients now have a separate entrance to reach the rooms directly.
Capital appeal fundraising chairman Gibby Cox said the new hospice is “beyond my best expectations – I don’t have the superlatives and I don’t know if there’s another one in Scotland that can better it”.
The former lord lieutenant of Lanarkshire, who is from Chapelhall, told the Advertiser: “I think perhaps one of the best things is that every patient in their bed can be immediately taken out into the fresh air with every room having an opening to the outside, which is a huge thing.
“Seeing the new place will be eye-opening to those who know the hospice. It’s been a long journey, but it’s definitely worth it as it’s quite amazing.”
He stressed that although building work is complete, the fundraising work is not yet done, adding: “Although patients are coming back next week, the appeal isn’t finished – there’s still a lot of money to find and the final phase of fundraising is as critical as the first.
“There’s no way that it’s completed; the next phase is the most important, but the people of Lanarkshire are so generous and very big-hearted, and I don’t think there are many families in the area who haven’t been touched by the hospice’s work.
“Our fundraising team are great and are full of imagination and ideas.
“I’m extremely proud of them and grateful to all who’ve supported the appeal.”
The capital appeal has so far raised £5.75m of the £9m required for the refurbishment and fundraising work continues – alongside the hospice’s regular requirement to raise £88,000 per week to fund its care services.
Appeal director Karen McFadyen said: “The refurbished hospice is beautiful and completely transformed – the care provided was always wonderful and now there’s an environment to match to deliver it in.
“Everybody is doing their bit to raise funds and hopefully by getting to this stage where people can see the amazing change, people will be inspired to do something in support of the appeal.”
Monklands residents can book places on tours of the renovated hospice, taking place today and tomorrow before patients return next week, by emailing colin.gardiner@ standrews.scot.nhs.uk or calling 01236 766951.