Enabling even more care: Weldmar Hospicecare’s new Outpatient Suite officially opened by the Lord Lieutenant of Dorset

Weldmar Hospicecare has officially opened a brand new Outpatient Suite at their hospice in Dorchester.

Patients, their loved ones, and those experiencing bereavement are being supported in the new space, where they can receive complementary therapies, physiotherapy assessments, counselling, and wellbeing support activities.

Michael Dooley, Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, officially cut the ribbon on behalf of Weldmar’s patron, King Charles III, and said: “True care is holistic; physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual. That is why this new suite is so important. The wellbeing support, counselling, complementary therapy, and physiotherapy that will take place here represent the very best of compassionate and integrated care. His Majesty The King has long championed this approach and has supported Weldmar since his first visit here in 1992.”

“I think it’s absolutely brilliant,” says Caroline Hamblett, Weldmar Hospicecare’s CEO. “When you talk to the people who are using the services, they love it. You can come into the hospice now, go left into outpatient suite, and it’s bright, it’s airy … we’ve got more complementary therapy, more bereavement services, and we’re able to serve more people. I couldn’t be happier, it’s wonderful.”

Lord Julian Fellowes, a Vice President of Weldmar, said: “I think they’ve done a wonderful job. I know the building quite well because we’ve been involved with the place for some years now. It seems to me that it’s fulfilling a very useful role for the community. It’s a nice place to be.”

Built without dipping into charity coffers

The extension to the building was funded by a capital grant for hospices from the Department of Health and Social Care, specifically for improvements to things like building, IT, and infrastructure. The new rooms were equipped and furnished thanks to donations to Weldmar’s Securing Tomorrow’s Care Appeal, with local charity Ducks and Drakes Cancer Trust contributing £25,000.

The government grant was facilitated by Hospice UK, who represent hospices across the country. Chief Executive Toby Porter attended the opening ceremony and said: “One of the most important things that everybody who works in hospice care would want the public to know is hospices exist primarily to help people live will, from the moment of their diagnosis until the moment of their death. The vast majority of the work we do is not end of life care, it is to support people with a palliative diagnosis.. It all starts here in the Outpatient Suite with the counsellors, the therapists, the group work, and the activities that help this hospice to help their local population to live well.”

Making a difference for those in Weldmar’s care

The Outpatient Suite has been in use for a number of weeks already, including for Wellbeing Support Sessions run by the charity’s Patient and Family Support team. With her son in Weldmar’s care with Motor Neurone Disease, Olwyn visits the weekly coffee morning, and says: “I get friendship and companionship, and a really good laugh – it can be hilarious in here at times. But you can also stay quiet if you’d like to. You’re really looked after, and made to feel that for a couple of hours you are someone special.”

Alan attends a weekly arts and crafts session, and said that support comes from all of those who attend as well as the staff members who run the sessions: “The new space is ideal. It’s perfect for what we use it for. It is nice to come to a place where there’s a group of people, and we all do the same thing and talk about what we’ve done.”

As well as the large communal area that is now home to the Wellbeing Support Sessions and Motor Neurone Disease (MND) clinic, Weldmar have been able to double the number of complementary therapy treatment rooms, and there are three comfortable rooms for counselling services.

Positive for the local community

Lloyd Hatton, MP for South Dorset, attended the opening ceremony and said: “It’s really good to see that the funding has delivered this brand new Outpatient Suite here it Weldmar. It means that they do more, whether for patients or their loved ones, and to be able to see that investment mean they can deliver more for the community right across Dorset is really, really positive.”

The MP for West Dorset, Edward Morello, added: “It’s wonderful to be here at Weldmar who do fantastic work across the region. This addition to the facility in Dorchester is going to help Weldmar improve the quality of care that they’re already providing to people at the end of life, and to the family and friends of those people. It’s such a wonderful, brilliant extra facility.”

In harmony with the original hospice building

The new Outpatient Suite, designed by architects Crickmay Stark and built by Hammond Building Contractors, has been designed to provide a seamless extension to the original hospice building – the bricks and roof finials of which were personally chosen by King Charles III himself.