Member Article

Work on Darlington hospice expansion going well

WORK to transform a Darlington hospice is well underway.

A £1.1m purpose-built In-Patient Unit at St Teresa’s Hospice on Woodland Road is being delivered by well-respected construction company Walter Thompson Ltd.

Work started in May and is on course to be completed in February next year.

The construction company has been working hard to keep disruption for the hospice’s patients and neighbours to a minimum.

Ian Saye, Site Manager for Walter Thompson, attends regular meetings of St Teresa’s senior team and has also given three informative and entertaining talks to hospice patients.

“I enjoyed giving the talks, and it’s important that we keep everyone fully informed as to what we’re doing and how we’re doing,” explained Ian, who has been with Walter Thompson for 22 years.

“The talks lasted about half an hour and there were some very good questions asked,” Ian added.

He’s no stranger to giving such talks. Ian is an Ambassador for the Construction Industry, one of three currently working for Walter Thompson’s. The role is awarded by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) the national training body for the sector, and Ian attended a course at York College to gain the qualification.

“It’s recognition for the work we do in raising the image of the industry – we speak to schools, colleges and other organisations about specific projects or roles within the industry and how to find work within it,” explained Ian.

“Walter Thompson has a reputation for working closely with clients and local communities to ensure any disruption is kept to a bare minimum. Communication is also a priority – we try to keep everyone as up-to-date as is possible. We’ve given out lots of flyers to local residents, for instance.

“We go above and beyond our legal obligations which is why we regularly do so well in the nationally-recognised Considerate Constructors’ scheme.

“We’ve worked particularly closely with the team at St Teresa’s and I’d like to thank them for their help and patience – and their friendly approach. I think it helps that several of our lads working at St Teresa’s are from the Darlington area, so are aware of the hospice and the inspirational work they do here,” he added.

The current hospice in-patient unit has only six beds and is one of the smallest in the UK. It is frequently full and beds are unavailable to people in need. Meanwhile, access by stretcher lift is only available to three of their six beds and the older building has limits in terms of infection control and easy supervision.

The new ground-floor, custom-built unit will address these issues by increasing the number of in-patients beds from six to ten fully-equipped en-suite rooms, looking out on to the hospice’s gardens. The unit will have greatly improved accessibility and comfort for patients, and improved facilities for visitors.

Planning permission for the new unit, which will be joined to an earlier extension built in 2008, was passed by Darlington Borough Council.

Jane Bradshaw, chief executive of the hospice, said: “We are delighted to be working with a highly-accomplished, family-run business such as Walter Thompson’s on this project, which will benefit to many people in South Durham and North Yorkshire.

“The company has maintained an extremely tidy work base and been very accommodating with our neighbours, patients, personnel and visitors to ensure minimum disruption – this makes such a difference. We are all looking forward to opening the new ten-bedded unit next year.

“Fundraising is, of course, more important than ever and there are many opportunities for individuals or groups to support the project through donations towards equipment, fixtures and fittings, which I would be pleased to discuss with anyone at any time.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Walter Thompson .