A New Forest hospice that failed to win a lottery grant for a second time is getting its own back.
Oakhaven at Lymington has issued an advertisement for its own lottery while having a dig at the National Lottery at the same time.
It says: "Fed up with the National Lottery? Did you know that Oakhaven Hospice was turned down for a National Lottery grant for a second time?
"Are you fed up with not knowing where your money is going. Support Oakhaven Hospice Lottery - where your money benefits your local community."
Oakhaven put in a joint £260,000 bid with the New Forest Primary Care Trust to the lottery's New Opportun-ities Fund to improve community care for terminally-ill patients.
The bid was turned down because "there is insufficient evidence of need which provides a justification for the grant scheme," the Opportun-ities Fund explained.
Oakhaven relies largely on its own fundraising and 15 months ago was forced to take drastic cost-cutting measures to survive.
Chief executive Kara Bishop said: "We remain very disappointed that our bid failed.
"We went through a very competitive bidding process, into which we put our best efforts.
"The process was long and complicated, but we felt we had made a good case."
The grant would have funded a specialist nurse and a part-time consultant to work with district nurses and GPs in improving the quality of care for patients dying in community hospitals, nursing homes and in their own homes.
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