CONSTRUCTION work has begun on a new extension at St Luke's Hospice that will help make available palliative care to more people and those at an earlier stage of their diagnosis.

The charity is taking up some of the garden space to add extra rooms at the rear of the western wing of its Kenton Grange building to provide shorter daycare consultations and therapy sessions for those who may not wish to attend the existing full day sessions.

Pam Russell, director of fundraising and community relations, said the new space, on which construction started three weeks ago, will improve co-ordination between services by housing the community, daycare and outpatient teams under one roof.

“We are tremendously excited that work on the new extension has now started.

“We hope that the extension will allow St Luke’s to care for more local people who are coping with illnesses which are no longer curable, enabling them to achieve the best possible quality during the final stages of their illnesses.

“The project will provide flexible spaces including therapy and consultation rooms, and space to improve facilities for visiting families and carers.

“It will enable St Luke’s to reach out to new groups of patients including those with cancer and non cancer diagnoses who may benefit from hospice care at an earlier stage in their illness, and who may wish to access Day Care for short consultations and therapy sessions rather than for the whole day.”

Mrs Russell said there is “minimal disruption” to patient services since a large green wall has been established to protect the in-patient unit from noise and dust and a couple of therapy rooms in the daycare area have been closed and the treatments relocated.

The £600,000 extension should be complete by the early summer and the charity is planning a series of visits and open days to allow the community to find out more about the hospice and the services that will be housed within the building.

It is being paid for by a £510,000 Department of Health capital grant with money from the Trusthouse and Will charitable trusts and the Rank and Rose Foundations, and the charity won planning permission for the work from Brent Council in November last year.

n If you would like an invitation to one of the open days for yourself or a group from your organisation contact Pam Russell on 020 8382 8040.