LEWIS-Manning Hospice will be welcoming patients to its brand new building this month – but won’t be able to have anyone staying overnight until it has raised more cash.

The hospice, which is run by a charity, has been offering daytime care for people with cancer and other life-threatening illnesses for the last 20 years.

But following redevelopment at its stunning location overlooking Poole Harbour, there are now 23 bedrooms, built to cater for in-patients for the first time.

Lewis-Manning’s chief executive, Elizabeth Purcell, said: “Increasingly I was being told by patients that they wished they could stay overnight.

“I remember one patient especially, a man of about 40 who had lived on his own for many years.

“He had to ask his parents to come and live with him because he was in a wheelchair and needed help.”

The thoughtfully designed facility cost £2.8million to build.

“We borrowed £1.5million from a charity bank, which allowed us to start building 18 months ago, and raised £800,000. That leaves us £700,000 short,” she added.

The hospice is continuing to apply for grants and welcomes legacies, but is appealing for businesses or even families to sponsor the bedrooms at £25,000 apiece so they can be opened.

Elizabeth’s hope is that local people will see donating to the hospice as an investment: “This is where the people we know and love will be cared for.

“We need an extra push to get this up and running properly,” she said. “We didn’t build a building, we built a service that’s based in a building. It needs to be full of people who need to be here.”

The beds will be for respite, rehabilitation and end of life care, while the hospice will continue to run and expand its other services.

“Day hospices are a way of making sure people can stay at home as long as possible and do as they wish with the support of specialist nurses,” she said.

The original plan was to build two new wings on the 1920s house near Evening Hill bequeathed by the late Marjorie Lewis-Manning, but the trustees realised the original building would never be able to match the high specification of the extensions.

“It became clear that the only way it was going to work was to take the difficult decision to knock down the existing building.

“It meant we saved £500,000 VAT and could put that money into the new building,” said Elizabeth.

“People still don’t believe that this service is free, but if you have got a diagnosis and are ill, you don’t have to worry about your care.

“We call it a community hospice: it belongs to the people of Poole and Purbeck and we offer the service they want us to offer.”

To donate ring 01202 701000 or visit lewis-manning.co.uk.

How Lewis-Manning helped Leslie

AMONG those looking forward to using the new facilities is Leslie Holder, who was referred to Lewis-Manning Hospice for care and support after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

Two months on, he looks forward to his weekly visits to the hospice’s temporary home in Constitution Hill Road, Poole.

Leslie attends the charity’s outpatient breathlessness clinic, where he is given help to cope with breathing difficulties triggered by his cancer.

“I was absolutely flattened when I found out I had cancer. Attending Lewis-Manning Hospice gives me a day out,” he said.

“If I wasn’t there I would be on my own at home twiddling my thumbs. I have now learnt to live with the cancer, and for one day a week I get to socialise with the other patients. I think I make them laugh.”

Maria Tidy, from Lewis-Manning Hospice, said: “We’re so pleased that Leslie has found comfort at our hospice like so many of our patients.

“Often there is a stigma attached to hospice care with a presumption that people only go there to die.

“But we offer so much more to help them to live with their illness and get back to their usual lifestyle.”

The charity is holding a series of fundraising events for next month’s Hospice Awareness Month and will be offering tours of the new hospice building at its summer fete on July 22