A PLANNING application has been submitted to Cornwall Council to improve a Launceston care centre’s existing facilities at a unit for the care and treatment of people affected by Huntington’s Disease.

The application, submitted by Barchester Healthcare, seeks to improve the existing facilities of Kernow House’s Millaton Court Unit, ‘to meet increasing demand to more appropriately manage the needs of all service users’.

The proposals comprise a number of internal alterations and four extensions, which allow the creation of a new out-patients area, additional storage, day space and bedrooms.

Documents submitted to the council state that overall, the proposals increase the number of bedrooms by six — five within the Millaton Unit, one in the Caradon Unit by converting an existing store/bathroom.

Kernow House provides beds within the Millaton Court Unit, a specialist centre offering care and treatment for people affected by Huntington’s Disease.

All four extensions would be single storey and attached to the Millaton Court Unit, which itself is single storey.

Huntington’s Disease is an inherited condition that damages certain nerve cells in the brain. The brain damage gets progressively worse over time and can affect movement, cognition — perception, awareness, thinking, judgement — and behaviour.