Introducing the St John’s Hospice Wellbeing Centre

We are delighted to announce that the all-new St John’s Hospice Wellbeing Centre has officially opened its doors following a transformative refurbishment project.

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The newly created Wellbeing Centre encompasses our belief that hospice care is long-term and holistic. Its name aptly reflects that its focus is not just on physical care but on supporting our patients and their families to maintain their quality of life, mental health and wellbeing.

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The new centre was brought into being by FacilitateSpaces having been planned and designed by top architects at Black Pine, alongside our own staff and patients, to ensure that we created the most accessible, versatile, and patient and staff-sensitive spaces as possible.

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The refurbishment has included a redesign of the main space which can now be partitioned to create multifunctional break-out rooms for smaller group activities or 1:1 therapy sessions or used as one larger convivial room which will also be used to host new carer and bereavement support sessions out of hours.

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The multi-functional main area now features communal tables creating more opportunities for patients to socialise with one another.

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The main space now features glass partitions which enables the creation of break-out rooms for smaller group activities and 1:1 therapy sessions, as well as offering a quiet place for patients to relax set back from the main space.

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A larger clinical room has been created to aid our provision of specialist nursing and medical care at the centre. This includes scaling up the provision of medical interventions such as drug therapies, infusions, and blood transfusions across the hospice.

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The therapy rooms have been refurbished and a new multi-sensory room added, allowing us to better support and treat patients with Dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Motor Neurone disease. Finally, the creation of a 1:1 counselling room has also provided our social workers with a new private space to support patients and their families throughout their journey with us.

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The larger clinic room further aids our provision of specialist nursing and medical care at the Wellbeing Centre, it will also help to scale up our provision of medical interventions such as drug therapies, infusions, and blood transfusions across the hospice.

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The private counselling room which has been named the 'Quiet Room' will be used by our social workers to provide support to patients and their families throughout their journey with us.

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As part of the project, our administrative office, which sits in the footprint below the centre, has also been refurbished creating a positive and professional space for our staff. The much-needed changes to this space have not only created a more conducive work environment to better promote our staff's own health and wellbeing but it will enable us to house our growing team as our services continue to expand.

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Upon its opening, Chief Executive Simon James said: “This marks the start of an exciting new chapter for our hospice. Thanks to the kind generosity of our donors, we now have a physical building which reflects the gold standard of care we provide and for which we are known in the community. It also reflects our commitment to the physical and mental health and wellbeing of not only our patients and their loved ones but also of our staff.”

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The new administrative office features soundproof, private and professional offices for our Hospice Consultants, Referrals and Discharge Nurse Specialist and Assistant Director of Nursing.

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The light and airy basement office is divided with soundproof glass partitions, creating team hubs and helping minimise the disruption caused to each other as they make telephone consultations with patients and family members.

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We are now turning our attention to the centre and the Inpatient Unit’s gardens which we plan to transform into accessible and tranquil spaces for our patients, family members, carers and staff. We have already undertaken hard landscaping throughout the winter months and planting will begin in the spring, enabling us to reopen both the gardens in line with our 40th birthday celebrations later this year.

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This transformative refurbishment has only been possible thanks to the generous support of our donor community, and we are truly so grateful to all those who have supported us on this incredible journey.

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With special thanks to:

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  • Bernard Sunley Foundation
  • Bradbury Foundation, Hong Kong
  • Brampton Trust
  • Herbert Kennard
  • MariaMarina Foundation
  • Sir Harold Hood's Charitable Trust
  • Strand Parishes Trust
  • The Helen Harriett Williams Charity
  • The Rose Foundation
  • The Vandervell Foundation
  • Wolfson Foundation

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For supporters:

If you would like to learn more about this transformative project and potential future projects you could support, please contact our Fundraising team at fundraising@hje.org.uk.

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For prospective patients and family members:

If you would like to learn more about the care provided at our Wellbeing Centre and how you or a loved one can access these day services, please visit www.stjohnshospice.org.uk/our-care/day-services.

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For healthcare professionals:

Please click here to learn more about the care provided at our Wellbeing Centre. If you would like to refer a patient please visit, www.stjohnshospice.org.uk/referrals.

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