A CHARITY is to carry out a major refurbishment project to mark 45 years of hospice care in Cornwall.

The £1.1-million scheme will be undertaken by Cornwall Hospice Care which runs the Mount Edgcumbe Hospice in St Austell and the St Julia’s Hospice in Hayle.

The hospice in St Austell was the first to be established by the charity, opening to patients in October 1980. To mark the 45th anniversary, a significant upgrade will be introduced to ensure the hospice building is fit for the future.

Cornwall Hospice Care chief executive Paul Brinsley said: “In 2010-2011, we undertook a major £1.3-million extension at St Julia's Hospice in Hayle, demolishing a dilapidated cottage and building the outpatients, reception and seminar rooms, as well as extending the inpatient ward to provide additional bedrooms.

“We’ve continued to invest in the building by installing solar panels and improved insulation during the last year.

“We now have the opportunity to invest in Mount Edgcumbe Hospice to bring the building up to the patient privacy and dignity standard of St Julia’s by replacing the four bedded bays with single bedrooms.

“We’ll also create a therapies hub in the current outpatients area, as well as a new entrance to admit patients. The current reception will remain for visitors, staff and volunteers, but the new patient reception will allow us to introduce two beds where patients will be assessed before being admitted. This will be our new crisis intervention suite. This all follows work completed in the last year to install solar panels and improve insulation.”

The new project to upgrade the St Austell hospice is already fully funded.

Chair of trustees David Renwick: “We can do all this following a successful trusts and grants fundraising campaign, which has been carried out over the last year. Together with support from the capital grant recently announced by the government and individual major donations, we’re now able to start the refurbishment project.

“The upgrade will cost £1.1-million and represents a significant investment for our charity. Our ambition is to ensure we’re fit for the future and able to continue to provide the highest quality of care for patients and their families in Cornwall.”

The project is due to begin on Tuesday, May 27, and run into early 2026. The contractor for the project is Classic Builders (South West), which has a base in Redruth, and the chartered architectural technologist is Paul Pethick, of Studio JB Architectural Services.

Mr Brinsley said: “We appreciate this refurbishment will bring some disruption to our services for a short period. Patients may be sent to St Julia’s Hospice and non-clinical staff will be encouraged to work from our other office sites or from home for a brief time over the summer. We believe the limited disruption will be more than worth it for the future care of our patients and their families at Mount Edgcumbe Hospice.”

The project, when complete, will include a new canopy at the entrances to the hospice.