HOSPICE FEATURE: Building designed to care

Just as the kitchen table is often the centre of a home, so it is at Tui House.

Influenced strongly by the Maggie‘s Centres in the United Kingdom, the architectural design has focused on being welcoming, supportive and familiar.

Warkworth Wellsford Hospice manager Kathryn Ashworth says the building itself will provide an environment that feels homely and will help hospice deliver the care patients need.

“For this reason, the open kitchen and lounge area have purposely been placed at the centre of the building,” she says. “It will be a place where patients and their families can make a cup of tea and spend time either alone or in the company of our volunteers.

“Research shows that it’s when volunteers become involved that patients really feel the wraparound care of the community.”

The building has private spaces, semi-private and open spaces, all with rural views. Kathryn says it is very satisfying to see the building become the embodiment of the vision set down nearly 10 years ago.

“When a new hospice was discussed in 2007, the consensus was that it should be a building that was environmentally friendly, reflected a rural environment, worked on a single level and was non-clinical. I do believe that’s what we have achieved.”

Kathryn thanked all the contractors and local sub-contractors who had worked on the house; many had been on the job for more than a year.

“They’ve become part of the hospice family,” she says.