A HOSPICE has been given a £200 Epping Town Council grant to put towards employing a chaplain.

The money will help St Clare Hospice, at Hastingwood, employ someone on a permanent basis to organise pastoral care for terminally ill patients.

Councillor Janet Hedges said: "I've worked with the terminally ill and what they really need is someone to cling to and pastoral care simply becomes the most important thing on the planet. They feel they want support to cross over."

St Clare's has already raised £2,000 of the £11,000 needed to employ a chaplain for 15 hours a week and the hospice hopes charitable donations, grants and legacies will help to raise the rest of the money.

The hospice's yrust and legacy officer, Tony Smith, in a letter to the town council, said: "The provision of spiritual care within the hospice is seen as pivotal to our core purpose of providing holistic palliative care to the community."

During the last year 250 people were admitted to the hospice as in-patients and 200 were seen in day care, while the helpline responded to more than 1,000 calls.

Councillor Mari-Louise Whitbread said: "It's a charity for the whole community and the people of Epping at some point may use the charity and will benefit from this care."