MAJOR plans for an "essential" new £1.5 million phase in the development of Bolton Hospice have been unveiled.

Bolton Day Hospice will represent a natural extension to the work which has been carried out at the Chorley New Road "haven" since it opened seven years ago.

Work on the new building will begin this year, and it is hoped the day hospice will open its doors in the summer of 2000.

The "Millennium" building will be an integral part of the main hospice, becoming one major centre for residential, out-patient and day care.

And although day care has been an ongoing service, provided at the hospice since the year it opened in 1992, the new building represents what matron and director of hospice services Mrs Pat Sneddon describes as the "evolutionary process".

She explained: "It is in response to a growing service. It is an essential development, not a luxury.

"It is an important part of Bolton Hospice's development because it will fundamentally mean that a more flexible and creative type of care can be provided for people who are limited by disease, and for their family and friends.

"It will provide a greater flexibility of nursing and medical care. It also means more facilities for privacy for consultations, examinations, hygiene, clinical activities and counselling.

"We will have recreation areas, social areas, therapy rooms, enabling more opportunities for physio and occupational therapy, and complementary therapies such as aromatherapy.

"There is an excellent service already provided - no one gets a second rate service here - but the new building will increase the flexibility of how often these services can be offered."

The day hospice will provide a new examination and treatment room, a quiet interview room, an office, a therapy room, a rest room, a dining room, several sitting areas, an activity area, kitchenette, hairdressing salon, bathroom and separate toilet facilities.

Mrs Sneddon added: "Better physical resources will mean that patients and their families will be cared for in a supportive environment which enables them to live more productively and creatively within the limits of their disease.

"In addition, improved conference and training areas will be incorporated into the day hospice building, empowering the development of educational initiatives, both for existing staff and for our colleagues in other care environments who are also concerned with the delivery of high standard palliative care services."

Mrs Sneddon summed up the whole concept of Bolton Hospice, saying: "It is a philosophy of care. We are very fortunate to have this magnificent building which enables us to make the concept of care a reality.

"We provide a place of care and support for dying people. The aim of the hospice is to maximise the quality of life to accommodate people on a difficult journey - to enable them to die peacefully and with dignity."

The hospice provides care through its: Residential in-patients; Out-patients who come in for consultations; Hospice at Home, a slowly evolving service, in which its expertise is taken out into the community; and its day activities, which will grow with the day hospice.

Mrs Sneddon said: "The day hospice will enable patients and families to enjoy all the services the hospice provides but then to return to their own homes at the end of the day.

"The day activities provide a clinical speciality. It is not just a case of being nice to people, but about challenging them, letting them grow, and it is about life and living life, not about death and dying.

"How often people attend the day activities depends on their need. People are unique and that is why we need greater flexibility.

"The day hospice will increase the counselling support, bereavement and educational services and the number of out-patient clinics we can offer."

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