PATIENTS needing palliative and end-of-life care are moving around on new wheels thanks to a £5,000 cash boost.

Headington’s Sobell House Hospice Charity was awarded funding last December to replace its old and exhausted wheelchairs.

The Gannett Foundation, the charitable arm of Gannett Media – the Oxford Mail’s parent company – selected the hospice for one of its annual grants, awarding £5,400.

And now the charity is celebrating after using the money to buy 12 chairs, which will support thousands of residents across the county.

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Head of fundraising Dominique Cadiou said: “Everyone is really happy and grateful to Newsquest and the Gannett Foundation, very much so.

“The wheelchairs are stunning. The patients were delighted. They are very happy with them.”

Patients visiting the charity’s day care centre, based at the Churchill Hospital, will now benefit from the red and blue Enigma Spirit wheelchairs.

Miss Cadiou said the previous 10-year-old wheelchairs were prone to breaks and had become difficult for patients to use, with many needing to be pushed.

But she said the new wheelchairs will enable patients who struggled in the old chairs to move around more freely.

She added: “They can move around themselves, it’s empowering really. So we are really pleased with them.

“These are people who are very poorly and have been going for a lot of medical intervention already so to have that ability is important.

“It’s extremely motivating for us. All of our work is geared to the patients comfort and wellbeing.”

Miss Cadiou said the wheelchairs’ light aluminium frames would ease movement, along with other features including adjustable arm rests, punctureproof tyres, long-reach brake handles, gel cushions and antitip wheels.

The new chairs will be used on a daily basis by Sobell House Hospice Charity patients, who visit the hospice to receive support from its team of staff, therapists and volunteers.

Services include medication advice, spiritual and pastoral care, art and music, fitness groups and beauty therapies.

It costs about £4m to run the hospice, which supports about 3,000 terminally ill patients each year.

Last December, youngsters and staff at Mabel Prichard School were also delighted to secure £4,500 from the Gannett Foundation for a children’s wheelchair swing.

The Blackbird Leys school has raised more than £12,000 of its £25,000 target to replace rundown playground equipment at its Cuddesdon Way base.

It caters for 80 children with learning difficulties, between the ages of two and 19, with about half of the youngsters in wheelchairs.