Background From our experiences at Dove House Hospice, the local demand for respite care or ‘short breaks for patients and careres’ far outstrips what we are able to provide at the moment. This appears to be due to a number of factors including a lack of other suitable facilities in the area to cater for patients who often have complex and multiple conditions. The cost to the patient and their families for care can also be substantial. We feel that the respite unit we are planning will address a great deal of this unmet need and make a big difference to the quality of life of patients with life limiting illnesses who are being cared for at home by their families and friends and indeed, the careres themselves. Aims Seven years in the planning, the project will see the charity’s current services enhanced by a 12-bedded respite unit, the first of its kind in the area, to prevent families having to travel as far afield as York. The new build will also enable us to improve rehabilitation services, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and complementary therapy, whilst facilities will be enhanced within the current 20-bedded unit, which will remain at the heart of the new u-shaped design. While we always attempt to be flexible, we only have one bed allocated to respite care while the other beds are prioritised to provide pain and symptom control as well as terminal care. We want to ensure that families receive unrivalled care. The Government’s recently published Carers’ Strategy, stresses the importance of increasing the provision of short breaks as one of the most important ways of supporting carers who should be properly valued and recognised for what they do. The new respite unit will also include two family suites. During ongoing conultations with our service users and their carers, they told us they wanted more opportunities to have breaks together. Traditionally respite has been more about separation. These suites in our new respite unit will enable families the ability to spend quality time together whilst the hard work of caring is undertaken by our staff, allowing service users and carers to focus on their relationships once more while we look after their needs. Through our Service User Forum, Service Users have made suggestions and changes which have been incorporated into the plans to make our proposed facilities even more responsive to their needs. Funding Needs The £5m project will be funded in part by a £1.3m donation from the Henry Needler Trust, set up by the Hull entrepreneur in memory of his wife before his own death. Construction work on the new building will be split into three phases, with Phase One involving the construction of the new 12-bed respite unit with family and relatives’ facilities incorporated into the design at the request of Dove House’s patients and their loved ones (£2.4 million). Phase One is expected to last 18 months. Phase 2 – Extension and improvement to Therapy and Support Services (£1.6 million) Phase 3 – refurbishment of the existing inpatient unit (£500, 000) The whole project is estimated to last 36 months.