Campden Home Nursing Announcement – New Cancer Support Service

 

For some time we have been looking for a building that would be a suitable space to create a new Cancer Support Centre for Chipping Campden and the surrounding area. Recently we have found a property that we hope will be our new home and we have applied to Cotswold District Planning department for Change of Use consent. The property, Pine Cottage on Aston Road, will hopefully become our administrative offices, the nurses hub for our Hospice at Home service and also most importantly, become a ‘living well’ centre, dedicated to the holistic support of patients and their families when they have received a diagnosis of cancer or another life changing illness.

A lot of research and investigation has been done into the provision of Cancer Support to people in the North Cotswolds and the surrounding area and it was found that while the nearest centres in Cheltenham and Worcester are doing fantastic work, often when people are feeling low and weak they are not willing to travel from this area to anything but essential appointments. So, the idea of a Cancer Support Service started to take shape. We will be working with the Focus department within Oncology at the Gloucestershire hospitals and local GP practices to provide support and information for patients suffering from a life limiting illness, whilst providing the same levels of support and care for their families and carers.  The overall aim of this centre will be to support patients in ‘living well’ with their diagnosis and we will provide a safe environment where strength can be drawn from sharing worries,  experiences and hopes with clinical staff and others in similar situations.

Having considered many options, it became apparent that Pine Cottage was a house that would meet our needs. It will still be within walking distance of the town, and have enough space for parking and most importantly, due to the rapid growth of this service, it is a property that we can move into relatively quickly and get the service up and running in this, our 30th anniversary year.

Of course, there is a sadness that Jecca Brook, our wonderful founder, will not see the centre, but she knew about our plans and was so excited about this new development and what it would bring to the town. In honour of her wonderful legacy, the property will be renamed Jecca’s House and, providing all the planning consents come through, we then hope to be opening in the Autumn, current climate permitting.

Helen Makaritis, the General Manager of Campden Home Nursing is very willing to talk to anyone interested in the work the centre will be doing. Very shortly planning notifications will be going up to gather support or objections and we hope that we can rely on the support of the town to get behind this new facility. We will be posting the link to the planning application on social media and our website and invite you to document your support.

Contact details:

Helen Makaritis, General Manager

Email: helen.makaritis@campdenhomenursing.org

Update

Following our announcement regarding the prospect of a Cancer Support Centre named Jecca’s House, we have been delighted with the messages of support and offers of help we have received. A huge thank you to the community of Chipping Campden for your positive comments.

The ‘change of use’ application has now gone live and if you could spare 5 minutes to show your support on-line, by leaving a comment, we would be very grateful. Please go to: http://ow.ly/umZW50ADPYK and search for our reference number: 20/02306/FUL and go to ‘comment’.

Thank you!