In Santa Venera, a 15,000 square metre hospice designed 'to feel like home'

The new St Michael Hospice should “feel like home”, according to the Hospice Malta CEO.

Every day, about 50 workers are busy converting the 15,000 square metre Adelaide Cini Institute in Santa Venera into St Michael Hospice, a new complex geared to provide palliative care. Hospice Malta CEO Kenneth Delia. Photo: Jonathan Borg

The doors of the Hospice will open towards the middle of next year, Kenneth Delia told Times of Malta as he gave a guided tour of the building. Once complete, 16 private rooms will be available for Hospice patients. Each room will have its own garden and bathroom, he said.“The aim is to make the place feel like home,” Delia said.

Palliative care concerns people living with a life-limiting illness and looks to provide relief from physical pain as well as providing psychological, social and spiritual care. “Hospice care is all about the quality of life,” Delia stressed.

It is a priority for the building not to feel like a hospital and people staying at St Michael Hospice will have privacy and a place to enjoy their last days in the best way possible, he said.

Delia emotionally recounted a story of a friend’s family member who was receiving care abroad in...