St Helena has been granted planning permission for the redevelopment of its Tendring Centre in Clacton into a mix of residential and leisure use.

The local hospice charity announced the proposal to close and sell its centre last year due to concerns over how it can most effectively and efficiently look after local people facing incurable illness and bereavement now and in the future within limited resources.

Whilst planning permission has been granted for the development of the Centre on Jackson Road, St Helena is currently exploring its options.

In the meantime, all its services, including day therapies and bereavement support groups and clinics, will continue to run at the centre until the charity’s Board of Trustees has made a decision.

Regardless of what happens to the building, St Helena will continue to run its services in Tendring supporting local people facing dying, death and bereavement.

Mark Jarman-Howe, Chief Executive of St Helena, said:

“This is a challenging time for hospices and care providers. St Helena is facing growing demand for its care and support, the fundraising environment is more competitive than ever, and there is uncertainty over future NHS and social care funding.

“The proposal to redevelop the site of the Tendring Centre has not been easy. We recognise just how much the building has meant to patients and families, staff, volunteers and supporters over the years, and understand there will be a lot of sadness over this. Whatever the outcome, the Senior Management Team and Board of Trustees remain committed to protecting the amount of hospice care delivered locally to the people of Clacton and Tendring.

“We are currently considering all the options open to us regarding the closure and sale of the Tendring Centre and ultimately will make a decision based on what is best for our patients and their families and St Helena as an organisation.

“Until we have made a decision, all our services will continue to run as normal and our patients will remain unaffected and going forwards they will continue to run across Tendring with the aim to reach more people in need of our care and support.”

The reasons for the sale of the Tendring Centre are:

1. The building is too big for the needs of St Helena as less than 40% of the Centre’s capacity is being used. The Tendring Centre is an expensive resource to maintain, making the cost of services delivered from there disproportionately high. This is despite every effort to increase use through offering a range of services and other internal and external community activities from the site.

2. St Helena believes it can support the same number of local people and save money. The charity wants to grow the services offered to people in Tendring and this can be done best by offering these from premises that are most cost effective. It continues to be committed to addressing the inequality of access to hospice services for the people of Tendring.

3. St Helena could release funds to ensure it has enough money in the bank to protect core services and have the option to invest in service development in Tendring.

There are no planned changes to services currently and the Tendring Centre will continue to operate as usual.

Posted: 2nd October 2019