A YORK hospice has opened a new centre which will provide a wide range of wellbeing services to patients and to their families and carers.

The Sunflower Centre is a development of St Leonard’s Hospice's long-established day care service, and is intended to offer a flexible service providing holistic care for the whole person, including physical symptoms as well as emotional and spiritual concerns.

The staff includes doctors, nurses and care assistants, occupational and complementary therapists, a physiotherapist, experts in spiritual care, members of the family support team and an activities coordinator, all supported by a dedicated team of volunteers.

Among services offered are a lymphoedema clinic, where patients can get advice about any swelling of their limbs; courses on living with fatigue and breathlessness, with the risk of falls, and with anxiety and stress.

The centre's clinical manager, Jonathan Singh, said it could offer a wider range of help than could be provided previously – and at times when more people could have access to them.