Princess Alice Hospice will transform and extend its ground floor space after receiving a grant for nearly £500,000 from the Department of Health.

Planning officers approved the project on Wednesday to extend, redesign and refurbish the West End Lane hospice’s reception, coffee and dining areas to create an open welcome area.

The hospice received a grant of £482,639 as part of a Government capital grant programme that allocated £60m of funding to hospices across the country to improve the environments they provide care in.

Under the plans, the space created will be used for group activities, private meetings and will allow families to have meals together.

New treatment rooms will be created to provide out-of-hours therapies for patients and carers away from a clinical environment and the existing children’s area will also be refreshed.

Nicki Shaw, chief executive at Princess Alice Hospice, said: “Our project will help us to provide the best possible experience for our patients, carers and their families in line with our philosophy of providing high quality compassionate care for the local population.

“The refurbishment work will improve the accessibility of our services and promotes social activity and interaction, which we know is important.”

The hospice is now hoping to raise additional funds for the project which is set to cost about £1m.