Delayed Lincolnshire Butterfly Hospice set to take patients
A Lincolnshire hospice, which opened in 2011 but has since stood empty, is to admit its first patients next week.
The £1.5m charity-run Butterfly Hospice in Boston, took two years to build after a 12-year fundraising campaign.
Chief executive Judi Byrne said the delays in accepting patients were due to the "changes within the NHS".
Fundraiser Sandy Adams, whose son died of cancer, said it had been "a struggle" but she was pleased it would finally be helping patients.
The six-bed unit, which would provide palliative, end-of-life and respite care, will welcome its first patient on 11 August.
Ms Adams, who cut the ribbon at the latest hospice opening, added: "You've got the care that you need in hospital, but you've got the facilities that you would have at home."
Ms Byrne, from the Butterfly Hospice Trust, said: "Princess Anne just opened the building.
"Since then there's been a great deal of work on commissioning the actual inside of the building so that it is able to accept patients."
A year after the first opening, Ms Byrne had said the hospice was working with the NHS to complete the Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration.
She had said the hospice had to "tick all the boxes" with its application in order to demonstrate the "quality and safety" of the unit.
The hospice, working in partnership with Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust, must be CQC registered before accepting patients.
Last year, the Lincolnshire East Clinical Commissioning Group faced criticism from councillors wanting to know why the hospice was taking so long to open.
At the time, clinical leader Dr Peter Holmes, said he had yet to receive any "official notification" that the hospice had met CQC standards.