A NEW era in hospice care begins in Gwent today, as the first patients are admitted to the £5 million inpatient unit at charity St David’s Hospice Care’s Newport headquarters.

Almost 17 months after work began at the site, in Malpas, the 15-bed unit will expand the hospice’s inpatient palliative care service for patients with life threatening or terminal illnesses.

Wales’ first independent hospice project of the 21st Century has transformed the land to the rear of the charity’s headquarters, on Blackett Avenue.

The building’s L-shaped design allows each of the 15 spacious rooms - named after the area’s castles and rivers - to open out onto a triangle of grassland with views of woodland and distant hills, of which Twmbarlwm is prominent.

All the rooms boast a private patio area, onto which beds can be wheeled if the weather is suitable.

A nursing station at the joint of the L-shape has views along each corridor of rooms, and the building also includes bathroom facilities for relatives - who are able to stay over - a cafe, a children’s area, a communal sitting room, Y Dawel - a room intended as a peaceful, spiritual space - and an automated pharmacy unit.

The Welsh Government put up £3m, the Big Lottery provided a £500,000 grant, and funding also came from a range of other grant-making bodies. Newport City Council has also played a key role, having donated the land on which the unit is built.

“We’re taking our first patients, but it already feels like an iconic building,” said St David’s Hospice care chief executive Emma Saysell.

“It has become a flagship project. Several other hospice organisations from across the UK are coming to have a look.

“It should be a source of pride that Newport and Gwent can boast a building like this.

“From a patients’ perspective, the aim is to maintain privacy and dignity, but the opportunity is there for socialising too.

“It is important that this unit isn’t seen in isolation to the other services we provide, but rather as an integral part of them.

“Support has been overwhelming, from the council donating the land, the organisations that have funded us, the architects, the construction team from Andrew Scott - it goes on.

“They have all bought into this as a meaningful project and the result is fantastic.”