A HOSPICE has officially unveiled a £9m vision to protect its vital work with terminally ill patients.

Sobell House Hospice has submitted plans for its ‘exciting’ expansion, which will encompass a dementia-friendly garden annex and a new outpatient clinic.

The Oxford palliative care specialists revealed more details of the project in a planning application to Oxford City Council, and hopes to gain permission in time to start building by autumn.

Diane Gardner, the charity’s chief executive, said: “We have been working on this for quite a while and we’ve been very lucky in terms of the legacies and donations that allowed us to consider doing this.

“We’ve still got a little bit more to raise but we are really hoping to start building by September. We are getting very excited to be able to get this wonderful building - it’s been a long time in planning.”

The hospice is based at the Churchill Hospital site in Headington and celebrated its 40th anniversary last year.

It currently helps around 3,000 people in Oxfordshire with illness, with its day centre offering a comforting place for people to pop in from home, and its ward providing specialist and end-of-life care.

Mrs Gardner revealed the expansion plans in the Oxford Mail in January last year, stressing a need to meet more complex needs amid an ageing population.

The 1,300 square metre garden annex has been designed to suit frailer patients and especially those with dementia, using strong visuals such as bold colours to help patients recognise their way. The building would be white with some wood cladding.

It would have six new palliative care bedrooms on the ground floor, with charity offices and staff facilities on the first floor, and a small plant room on the third floor.

The ground floor would also accommodate a new lymphoedema clinic, especially to ease swelling that can be caused by cancer treatments.

Mrs Gardner said: “At the moment the lymphoedema service doesn’t have a permanent home - it is currently housed in a temporary unit on the Churchill site. This would be a purpose-built area. We have worked hard with the clinicians to make sure they have a space that works for them.”

Julia Kibblewhite, who uses Sobell House’s day centre regularly to cope with cancer, backed the extension.

The 72-year-old Witney resident said: “Sobell is a calming place; it isn’t as clinical as other environments. There is time to talk about end of life with support of family and friends. This will help them offer broader services to patients in Oxfordshire.”

The council is due to decide by July 10 - to view the plans search for 17/00770/FUL.