A NEW inpatient unit caring for residents from across Herefordshire will be officially opened next week.

The £8million project at St Michael's Hospice in Bartestree will feature 20 inpatient rooms and is part of a two-phase plan costing £11.3 million featuring the refurbishment of the old centre which patients and staff moved out of earlier this month.

The new building will be officially opened next week by benefactor Clive Richards and wife Sylvia who handed over £1 million to the hospice in November 2013 to help with the cost of the scheme.

A wing of the new building, featuring four suites of five private rooms, will be named after the couple.

The old building, next door to the new facility, was seen as too small for staff to care for patients, with space issues having a knock-on effect on the complementary services the hospice offers.

The move is the first of two phases with the refurbishment of the old site - which will create a new outpatient and day hospice unit - expected to be finished by November.

Those invited to attend next Tuesday's opening will be able to tour the building after its unveiling.

Meanwhile, the hospice has received a £15,000 fundraising boost from the Asda Foundation to help support the redevelopment project.

The cash has furnished one of the suites and an adjoining communal sitting room area.

Elizabeth Morawiecka, from St Michael’s Hospice, said: “We are hugely grateful to the Asda Foundation for making this generous grant possible.

“It has enabled patients to move into individual, en-suite bedrooms at the earliest opportunity.”

Set up in 1988, the Asda Foundation aims to have a positive impact on local communities by providing support to a range of good causes, chosen by Asda community life colleagues across the UK.

The Asda Foundation’s ‘Chosen by you… Given by us’ scheme gives customers the opportunity to nominate then vote for three local not-for-profit organisations to receive a tiered donation every two months.