SUPPORTERS of a much-loved hospice offering vital care for terminally ill patients have reacted with disbelief after they were refused Government help.

St Cuthbert's Hospice, in Durham, found its application for money under the Government-funded Futurebuilders programme was declined, leaving the hospice needing a massive bank loan to help its finances.

Hospice chairman Keith Willans said he was disgusted with the decision, while new Durham City MP Roberta Blackman-Woods said she would seek urgent talks with the group to ask it to reconsider.

In its latest grants, Futurebuilders gave out £8.1m, including £2.5m to a cultural centre for deaf people in the West Midlands, £2m to the Catz Club group to build after-school clubs nationwide and £1m to Croxteth Community Centre, in Liverpool, to buy a former church and teach teenagers skills such as horticulture and hairdressing.

But the hospice's application for a £1m loan and a £250,000 grant was refused by the group, which said other applications better matched its aim to improve public services.

The board was also concerned that the hospice may not be able to repay the loan.

Earlier this year, the hospice launched its Key Appeal -backed by The Northern Echo -to build a £3.2m extension offering round-the-clock specialist palliative care.

The hospice has already raised £1.9m towards the cost of the ten-bed unit, which will offer care for terminally ill people across north Durham, but has appealed for help in raising the remaining £1.3m.

The hospice held long discussions with Futurebuilders, a £125m investment fund managed by an independent board from the voluntary sector and overseen by the Home Office, about a low-cost loan.

Mr Willans said: "It was a waste of time and a significant waste of money because of the fees we had to pay to get the proposal drawn up.

"If the Government will not help us, then we will have to do it on our own with the help of the public, who have always supported us."

Ms Blackman-Woods said: "I would be astonished if Futurebuilders could have found a more deserving organisation to support.

"I am urgently arranging to meet with the Futurebuilders' chief executive to ask him to look again at this bid."

Director Peter Deans said: "We thought this project had good potential to meet Futurebuilders' investment plans."