St Catherine's key handover on new state-of-the-art, multi-million pound building
The new £19.5 million St Catherine’s Hospice at Pease Pottage has been officially handed over to the charity, marking the end of its construction. After 90 weeks, the completion of the state-of-the-art hospice will see Barnes Construction handing a ceremonial key to St Catherine’s to symbolise the end of the build and the start of
a new home for the much-loved charity, that provides palliative and end of life care throughout West Sussex and East Surrey. Designed by Building Ideas and LSI Architects, and built by Barnes Construction, the new hospice is 41,000 sq ft - one and a half times the size of St Catherine’s current site on Malthouse
Road in Crawley. We speak to St Catherine's chief executive Giles Tomsett, People and Site Services director Elly Powis and outpatient Bill McClusker about the new building.
a new home for the much-loved charity, that provides palliative and end of life care throughout West Sussex and East Surrey. Designed by Building Ideas and LSI Architects, and built by Barnes Construction, the new hospice is 41,000 sq ft - one and a half times the size of St Catherine’s current site on Malthouse
Road in Crawley. We speak to St Catherine's chief executive Giles Tomsett, People and Site Services director Elly Powis and outpatient Bill McClusker about the new building.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Terry, you've given me great pleasure and honour to give you the key to this lovely
00:17 new building today.
00:18 This key is just not a symbol of access, it's a symbol of hope and the key to a haven of
00:26 compassion and care.
00:30 Thank you Mark for all your support these last few years in building this magnificent
00:33 facility.
00:34 The University of Bath knows so many people benefit from care here across all the generations
00:39 to come.
00:40 So to all the contractors and the particular partners, thank you for what you've done.
00:44 I'd like to also take this opportunity to thank you to our partners at B8 Bank to build
00:48 bridges who make this possible.
00:50 Thank you.
00:51 Hi, could you introduce yourself and what your role is?
01:05 Hi, I'm Giles Thompson, I'm the Chief Executive of St Catherine's Hospice and we cover East
01:09 Surrey and West Sussex.
01:10 Excellent, and can you tell us a little bit why we're here today, what's so special about
01:13 this day?
01:14 So we're here today opening our brand new hospice here at Peace Potage which is the
01:18 culmination of 10 years of work following a donation of 5 acres of land by a local man,
01:24 Bill Bridges.
01:25 We've worked with Abbery and Thakem Homes on the development of this whole community
01:29 here at Peace Potage Woodgate and at the centre of it is this brand new hospice.
01:33 £20 million build, all of which has been raised by the local community.
01:37 So I stand here today with absolute thanks to everybody locally who's given anything
01:42 from a pound to many hundreds of thousands of pounds to enable this brand new facility
01:47 for the care of people who are dying and who are bereaved to be possible.
01:51 It's a tremendous day for the community.
01:53 And can you tell us what is so special about this building, what makes it so good for the
01:57 care and for our community?
01:59 So our current facilities in Crawley have been in place for 40 years, they've done sterling
02:03 work and our analysis of our population locally is that Crawley itself is an ageing town and
02:08 the British society is ageing and will need more and more support for frailty and end
02:13 of life in the years to come.
02:15 So what I'm excited about is this brand new facility, this world class and state of the
02:19 art facility for the care of dying people and those who are bereaved will be able to
02:23 care for more and more people in the years ahead, for the generation ahead that we need
02:27 to address and support across our local community here in East Surrey and in West Sussex.
02:34 We are not an organisation funded entirely by the state, we've just received 25% of our
02:38 funds from the NHS.
02:40 So it's local people who through their generosity and their understanding are giving to this
02:46 charity to enable other local people to receive the best care we possibly can and I hope in
02:52 the future we'll be able to reach more and more people who need us in the years to come.
02:57 And you mentioned state of the art, what sort of elements of the building is state of the
03:01 art and what does that mean for the care?
03:03 So hospice, and there are 220 hospices up and down the country, is trying to meet a
03:07 number of needs.
03:08 We are caring for people in an inpatient bed, we are caring for people with all kinds of
03:13 conditions including say dementia and what we need to do is enable the facilities that
03:17 we have here to care for people with their own specific needs, delicately, sensitively
03:23 and giving them as much dignity and peace as possible.
03:26 It's also a place where we are trying to create happiness and happy memories, we are trying
03:30 to put life back into the final days and weeks of life.
03:33 So we have rooms for group therapy, for music therapy, for art therapy and then there are
03:39 individual consultation rooms where you can see someone who might be a doctor or a therapist
03:43 or a counsellor in the care of yourself, your family, your friends as you go through the
03:49 process of dying.
03:51 And hospice exists to meet all of those needs.
03:54 We in society I think think of hospice as a place for your final days.
03:58 I'm really delighted to say what we are trying to do is to have people come and stay with
04:02 us for a few days and enable them to go home.
04:06 Most of us want to die at home and our hospice, our central mission is to support people to
04:10 die informed, supported and pain free and also to die where they want.
04:15 And interestingly enough although this new facility exists to care for people here in
04:19 our beds, we are also absolutely centred on trying to get people home if they want to
04:24 go home.
04:25 And personally for you, I think these plans of replacement you started about 10 years
04:30 ago as Chief Executive, it must be quite a big day for you personally.
04:36 So I came into the work here at St Catherine's Hospice because my best friend died under
04:41 the care of this hospice 10, 11 years ago and I'm very sorry to say that 5 or 6 of my
04:47 friends have died before their 50s.
04:49 So I'm very engaged in what society experiences around death and dying.
04:54 And yes it's been a 10 year journey but I would like to emphasise the real heroes in
04:59 this story are the community who have made this possible and the charity and all of us
05:04 working in it are the beneficiaries of a great deal of love.
05:08 Brilliant, thank you very much.
05:11 Would you like to introduce yourself and what your role is at St Catherine's Hospice?
05:15 My name's Ellie, I'm the People and Site Services Director here at St Catherine's Hospice.
05:20 And can you just talk a little bit about why we're here today, it's been the key handover
05:23 hasn't it, how important a day is this for St Catherine's Hospice?
05:25 It's so important, it's really special that we're finally getting to move into our new
05:29 building here at St Catherine's that's been purpose built for our patients.
05:33 And what about the building is going to make it so special for the community?
05:37 Everything, so from the fact that every patient has an individual room, every patient has
05:44 a garden, every patient has an en suite bathroom, the facilities for those patients that are
05:49 out in the community where they can come in and use, the wellbeing centre, the gym, where
05:54 people can live well for longer, it's just massively important.
05:57 Can you talk a little bit about how you got involved with St Catherine's Hospice, because
06:00 I believe it was a family member?
06:02 Yeah, so my mum passed away in 2017 and she died under the care of St Catherine's, she
06:08 actually died on the ward at St Catherine's in Morehouse Road.
06:11 And the care was just out of this world, they looked after her, they provided her with home
06:18 from home comforts, but she died on a ward behind a curtain and we were surrounded by
06:25 love and here that won't happen and that's what's really important.
06:31 Yeah, and is this building safeguarding care for future people?
06:35 Absolutely, one thing's for certain, we're all going to die, so we are all going to die
06:40 at some point.
06:42 If we can take care of those people that need us in an environment that matches the care
06:46 that we give, then that's really, really important.
06:49 Yeah, patient care is very important.
06:51 Yeah, very well.
06:52 So 6.30 it starts?
06:54 So 5.30 it starts.
06:56 Yeah, it should be, and what I'm just doing now for Giles is this.
06:59 So you can see where we are at.
07:01 Yeah.
07:02 Hi, could you introduce yourself and tell us what your connection with St Catherine's Hospice is?
07:06 My name is Bill McCusker, my connection is I'm a cancer sufferer, I've been dealing with
07:13 cancer now on and off, well not on and off, 15 years and about 18 months ago it came back
07:21 to haunt me and I've got a tumor on a nerve on my neck.
07:26 Originally we went through all the various options and it was inoperable, they couldn't
07:33 operate so I'm stuck with it basically.
07:36 So down my right hand side arm, I was useless, I couldn't move it.
07:43 So we used to deal with St Catherine's at a local Irish club in Crawley, one of the
07:49 lads, his dad died in here, not here obviously, Malthouse Road, so we used to have a charity
07:55 golf day every year and we'd race three or four grand, whatever it was, and then we used
08:01 to go up to St Catherine's with a big cheque and present it to them.
08:05 So I always knew about St Catherine's, so about 18 months ago a guy said to me, St Catherine's
08:13 have a physiotherapy department, why don't you give them a ring?
08:17 So I rang them and this guy said, yeah I'm Mark, I'll come into your house and we'll
08:21 have a chat.
08:22 So he very kindly came to my home, sat me down, talked me through what the various options
08:28 were, but it was mainly exercise, and he left me a few bits of equipment, a thing I could
08:36 put on here and sort of keep my fingers straight because they were always clawed up like this,
08:44 and a few other little bits and pieces to work on, and then after about six months I
08:49 rang him up to have another chat, and they said he's left, I said oh, I said but don't
08:55 worry there's two girls now, Jo and a Polish girl called Donata, they do the physio now,
09:01 so can you get them to ring me?
09:03 Anyway this thing, Jo rang me and she says why don't you pop up for a chat?
09:09 So I came up, they talked me through what they could do, carrying on from what Margaret
09:16 started to do, so they got me little dumbbells, they showed me what exercises to do, so I
09:24 did that, I mean I do it now of an evening, I'm sitting watching TV and I'm forever doing
09:31 this, but I mean I used to play a lot of golf, and I was a very, well I was a good golfer,
09:40 but I couldn't do it anymore, and I was, don't mind me saying, I cried many a night over
09:48 it, so I used to go down to West Hole where I play, and I'd go round in a buggy with the
09:54 lads, not playing, just keeping score, just being there, having a few pints, and then
10:01 after coming here, not here obviously, the old place, I started to get, I mean I couldn't
10:07 do that, I couldn't do that before, and then I thought well I'll try, and I got the golf
10:13 club back in here, and the lads, I mean I used to play quite a decent handicap, but
10:21 the lads now play me off 24, so I get around, I still go down there three times a week,
10:31 regardless if I have a good day or a bad day, at least I'm out having a day, and that's
10:36 all down to St Catherine's? Absolutely, the two girls, you know sometimes I think, I don't
10:42 feel nothing, oh you know, you will, keep going, keep going, keep going, and now I mean
10:48 they've got a gymnasium here, and the two girls have said it's going to have, because
10:53 at the moment down at St Catherine's all we have is a bicycle, so they said up here, they
11:01 would have other bits of equipment, and providing there was no one, I could come up, and you
11:06 know I still come up, do the classes with them, and I said could there be days if it
11:12 was not being used, could I go in there, and they said yeah by all means, so obviously
11:17 I'm going to try different, but it's all, it's coming along, as I said to you 18 months
11:23 ago I couldn't do that, but it's all down to what the two girls have told me, and of
11:28 course now we see what's up here, totally amazed you know, oh goodness, yeah goodness.
11:36 Blows me away.
11:37 Yeah, and I mean the word of St Catherine's is just the word they do in the community,
11:41 it's incredible isn't it?
11:42 Absolutely, as I say, I've been not involved with them, but known about them for 20 years
11:48 from the Gulf you know, yeah, but when it's come, but I think we were ready for a change
11:55 because Malthouse Road was a bit, a bit dated you know.
11:59 Yeah, absolutely, and how long have you lived in Crawley?
12:02 I've lived in Crawley from about 1987, yeah I used to be, well I moved, I'm from Northern
12:11 Ireland originally, but I moved over here goodness, 53, 54 years, no 55 years ago, I'm
12:21 just getting used to it now, I think I might stay you know, but I've been in the Crawley
12:26 area, I used to run a pub over in Rorley, The King's Head, don't know if you know it
12:33 or not, so we were in that for about 7 or 8 years, and then we came out and we just
12:39 stayed in the Crawley area, you know I bought a house here, my son married a local girl,
12:46 married one of my bar mates funnily enough, and my daughter lives here so, I've got my
12:53 whole family around here so that's why we stayed here.
12:56 Brilliant, well thank you very much for talking to us.
12:58 My pleasure.
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