The Priscilla Bacon Hospice Charity is raising £12.5 million to fund the construction of a new specialist hospice, and money donated at the Norfolk Business Awards 2022 celebration event will help towards this fantastic cause.
Work on the new Priscilla Bacon Lodge at the eight-acre site adjacent to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital started in February 2022 – and more than £10 million of the target has been raised.
However, the charity requires the help of fundraisers, donors and the business community to raise the final £2.2 million during 2022, necessary to complete the building project.
The new hospice will replace the existing facility on Unthank Road in Norwich, with the first patients due to be welcomed in the summer of 2023.
For more than 40 years, Priscilla Bacon Lodge has provided specialist palliative and end-of-life care for Norfolk and Waveney, with services delivered to 16 inpatient beds by Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust.
“Those who have had a loved one who has received this care, or spent their final days in the Lodge, will know the benefit of this service and value the dedication of the staff and volunteers,” said Hugo Stevenson, Head of Operations and Fundraising for the Priscilla Bacon Hospice Charity.
He said the Lodge was built in 1979, following a county-wide fundraising appeal led by Priscilla, Lady Bacon, and was donated to the NHS once built.
“Since then, Norfolk’s population has grown by over 220,000. People are living longer and increasing numbers are presenting multiple complex care conditions, yet the number of specialist palliative care beds has not increased in line with demand,” he added.
“It is recognised that there is now a chronic lack of specialist palliative care beds within Norfolk and Waveney. The necessity for the new hospice has never been greater,” said Hugo.
The Priscilla Bacon Hospice charity launched the £12.5 million fundraising appeal in 2019 to build the new specialist hospice and transform the provision of much-needed services across Norfolk and Waveney.
Well over £10 million of the fundraising target has been raised thanks to the remarkable support from across the region.
“This groundswell of support represents a direct response from the people of Norfolk and Waveney to the pioneering care which countless families have received at the Lodge over the last 40 years,” said Hugo.
The new Priscilla Bacon Lodge will have the capacity for 24 inpatient beds. It will also offer improved day care facilities, with a wellness centre and gym, as well as the space to host a community hub to provide ‘virtual ward’ care for people being cared for in their homes.
The new hospice will also be a platform for education and research into palliative and end-of-life care, supporting improvements in provision locally and nationally.
When Priscilla Bacon Lodge opened in 1979, it was the first hospice in East Anglia and one of the earliest hospices in the country. When the new Priscilla Bacon Lodge opens in the summer of 2023, it will be the first hospice built in the post-Covid era, encompassing the latest developments in infection control.
Hugo said the new facility will not only meet current needs, but is fit for the future with the potential for further growth and the flexibility to adapt to changing models of care.
“Norfolk has a proud history of fundraising for hospices. The new Priscilla Bacon Lodge will put Norfolk back at the forefront of the hospice movement and will provide Norfolk and Waveney with the end-of-life care it deserves and so urgently needs.”
For more information on Priscilla Bacon Hospice Charity, visit
www.priscillabaconhospice.org.uk
To make a donation towards the new Priscilla Bacon Lodge through the Norfolk Business Awards 2022, visit justgiving.com/campaign/Norfolk-Business-Awards-2022
Entries to the Norfolk Business Awards close on Sunday, August 7. To enter, visit www.norfolkbusinessawards.co.uk
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