THE sale of a hospice’s day centre in Clacton to a developer will help the charity support even more people facing incurable illness in Tendring.

St Helena Hospice said it is growing its Hospice in the Home services in the Tendring district, with 1,890 patients and families facing incurable illness and bereavement being cared for last year – compared to 1,634 in 2018.

The charity added that it is now helping more people in Tendring than in Colchester, where it is based.

The hospice said that 90 per cent of its care and support is provided to people in their usual place of residence, such as their home or care home, as this is often their preferred place of care.

The increase in care in Tendring comes as the charity sells its purpose-built hospice day centre in Jackson Road, which is set to be converted into 18 flats.

The sale is expected to raise £1.2million for the charity to continue its “core” work.

Mark Jarman-Howe, chief executive of the charity, said: “The decision was originally taken because it was an expensive resource to maintain, making the costs of delivering services there disproportionately high.

“It was too big for the needs of St Helena, with less than 40 per cent of the capacity of the building being used and growing its services for the local community could be done much more effectively without being tied to the building, and through the release of funds from the sale.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic the centre has been closed and has not reopened for clinics, consultations or groups that used to run there.

“Despite this, St Helena Hospice has supported more people facing dying, death and bereavement in the last couple of years than it did when the building was fully open in 2017/18, signifying that the needs of local people can be met through St Helena’s valuable community services, without the need for a physical building in the area.

“All the money raised from the sale of the building will be reinvested into growing St Helena’s vital services to ensure they can meet the increasing demand for end of life care and bereavement support across north east Essex.”