Wycombe MP Steve Baker writes exclusively for BFP readers:

I am honoured to be a patron of South Bucks Hospice. I was delighted to be present at the official opening of Butterfly House which is the charity’s new building in Kingswood Park, off Totteridge Drive.

It is reassuring to know we have a special place like this in High Wycombe to come to when we are most in need. 

The hospice supports patients, their families and carers of those living with life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses.

It offers patient-centred care through specialist palliative, psychotherapeutic and lymphoedema services. Along with social and creative spaces, there are purpose-built areas for clinical treatments, complementary therapies, physiotherapy and counselling, and there are also dedicated spaces for young adults.

Jo Woolf is the chief executive of South Bucks Hospice, and I should like to pay tribute to her for her vision for the hospice. She is truly inspirational, and I know this wonderful building could not have been built without her commitment and energy.

I should also like to mention everyone involved in its concept and construction. The facilities here are some of the best to be found in the country and, to have been built principally through voluntary contributions, is testament what can be achieved by people who work in the service of others.

But a hospice is not just bricks and mortar; it is a place where those involved with the care of individuals and families make such a difference to people’s lives.

The wonderful staff and volunteers make the hospice what it is, a place where people receive dignified, compassionate, high quality, expert care at a time when these are the very things most needed. I am confident it will adapt and respond to the changing demands of those who use it, and will reach more local people.

I offer my very best wishes to everyone involved and know the hospice is making, and will go on making, a huge difference to the lives of people of Wycombe and Buckinghamshire. 

For further information about Butterfly House, and South Bucks Hospice, including how you can volunteer and donate to the charity, please visit South Bucks Hospice’s website at https://www.sbh.org.uk/