Green Light for Refurbishment of Acorns Children’s Hospice in Walsall as Appeal Donations Flood In

25 May 2022

Published in: Member News

---

Acorns Children’s Hospice is thrilled to announce that work will shortly begin on the major refurbishment of its Black Country hospice in Walsall, thanks to the generosity of the local community.

---

Acorns Children’s Hospice is thrilled to announce that work will shortly begin on the major refurbishment of its Black Country hospice in Walsall, thanks to the generosity of the local community.

The hospice, based in Walsall, will be temporarily closing this week to allow phase-one of the refurbishment to commence. The work is being funded thanks to the early donations to the £750,000 Room to Grow Appeal, which the charity launched in February.

In just a few weeks, kind donations from the community have raised over £100,000 towards the refurbishment, which is designed to modernise the spaces at the hospice where hundreds of local children spend precious time every year.

While the work is underway, a groundbreaking and cost-effective collaboration has been agreed between Acorns and St Giles Hospice, based in Lichfield.

St Giles has offered temporary use of three bedrooms at the charity’s site in Whittington, to which the Acorns care team will relocate and continue to deliver vital care for local families including short breaks, emergency and end of life care. These bedrooms have now been decorated and equipped ready to welcome children as well as Acorns staff.

Emma Aspinall, Acorns Director of Care, said: “This is a significant development in the project to bring our Walsall hospice up to date for local families. We’re so thankful to the many people who have donated to our appeal so far, giving us the confidence to begin these works in the knowledge that the local community is well on the way to helping us reach the finish line.

“We are hugely grateful also to St Giles for their support. The kindness of St Giles towards us at Acorns will allow us to continue to provide our specialist care to children and families 24/7, whilst the hospice is closed for the refurbishment works.

“One of the things that we know people really like to see in the charities they support is collaboration and sharing of resources. The needs of the children and families have been at the heart of this project from the outset and this collaboration is a wonderful opportunity for our two charities to work together to fulfil that aim.”

Katie Burbridge, Clinical Director at St Giles Hospice, added: “At St Giles Hospice, our purpose is to provide excellent palliative care and enable our communities to support each other in living the best life they can to the very end.

“One of the ways in which we do this is by working collaboratively with our healthcare and community partners, and we’re delighted to be supporting our colleagues at Acorns Children’s Hospice over the next six months. We look forward to offering a warm St Giles welcome to the staff and families at Acorns in the Black Country.”

Acorns will close its Walsall-based site for six months from Sunday (1 May) to allow the work to commence, which will include upgrading the 10 children’s bedrooms and a new purpose-built arts and crafts room. The project will also see the hospice become the first Acorns hospice to have piped oxygen and suction devices built into the rooms, recognising the increasing complexities of children in Acorns care.

In addition to offering our residential service from Lichfield for the duration of the refurbishment works, Acorns will be increasing access to clinical care for Black Country families in the family home, including short break sessions, symptom management, emergency and end of life care where necessary.

Therapeutic services for Black Country families, including hydrotherapy, physiotherapy and music therapy, will be available from Acorns hospices in Birmingham and Worcester and the charity’s specially trained Family Services Team will continue to provide psychosocial support to families and siblings in their own homes and over the phone.

Acorns will also be working with Murray Hall in Tipton to provide weekly activities and sensory groups for parents and children and the charity SNAP, the Special Needs Adventure Playground in Cannock, to offer safe outdoor play experiences for families. To find out more about the Acorns Room to Grow Appeal and how you can get involved, please visit the Acorns Room to Grow Appeal page.

Notes to editors: Due to the sensitive nature of Acorns care services it refrains from using the words ‘terminal’ or ‘terminally ill’ in its press releases and public communications when describing the children who use Acorns and the conditions that they have. Instead, Acorns uses the words ‘life limited’, ‘life limiting’, or ‘life threatening’. Acorns kindly requests that you respect this in your communications when referring to Acorns Children’s Hospice. Acorns children have a lot of living to do. Thank you.

It costs £27,000 every day to run Acorns services providing care for children and support for their families. The charity relies heavily on donations to fund the majority of its activities.

To find out more about Acorns, please visit www.acorns.org.uk