DOROTHY House in Winsley is celebrating this week after it was awarded a grant of more than £8,000 by the Gannett Foundation.

The hospice applied for the grant from the charitable arm of the publishers of the Gazette & Herald and Wiltshire Times in September and learned on Monday it had been given £8,558 to buy specialist tilt and space chairs for its Day Patient Unit.

Chris Krajiniewski, DPU services team leader, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have received this grant, and it will make a huge difference to the patients that use our Day Patient Unit.”

The unit provides support to 55 patients a week and the 15 new chairs meet new infection control standards, which mean they are wipeable, breathable and offer much better pressure relief to patients.

Mrs Krajiniewski added that in addition to the new infection controls, the chairs allow patients to remain in the unit, particularly when having complex treatments.

She said: “These chairs enable a patient who is having an invasive treatment such as a blood transfusion or pain relief infusions to remain in the relaxed, friendly atmosphere of the Day Patient Unit rather than being excluded in a treatment room.

“This just helps make a difficult time just a little bit easier, and we are so pleased that we can now do this for our patients.”

Gazette editor Gary Lawrence said: “We know very well the wonderful work carried out by Dorothy House because we ran a successful appeal for them in our sister paper Wiltshire Times a few years ago.

"I’m delighted this money will make such a difference to this fantastic cause.”