A POPULAR hospice has outlined plans to build a £1.5m new premises.

Managers at Willow Burn Hospice, currently in the grounds of Maiden Law Hospital at Maiden Law, near Lanchester, have accepted they have to move after a top level NHS discussion paper on the future of the care of terminally-ill patients.

They want to build the new hospice at Shotley Bridge Hospital at Shotley Bridge, near Consett, and NHS managers have welcomed the proposal.

Manager at the hospice, Ken Blenkin, said the new hospice would cost between £1m and £1.5m to build, all of which would have to be raised by the group.

He hopes the County Durham and Darlington NHS Health Authority will provide a grant. If all goes according to plan the new premises would be built in two years.

Mr Blenkin said: "If we could get back-up from a hospital like Shotley Bridge it would be to the immense benefit of our patients.

" This is a major move for us but is a long term project. If we are honest we have to admit our current premises are too small for us now."

Willow Burn is the only hospice in north Durham to provide round-the-clock care. It costs about £350,000 a year to run, about half of which is raised from the public and employs 15 people.

The hospice is to team up with St Cuthbert's Hospice at Merry Oaks in Durham City to establish a home nursing service.

The cost of the new service over three years will be £240,000. Willow Burn will pay about £120,000 towards those costs of which £116,000 will come from the National Lottery.