The Hospice of St Francis is an independent charity that provides free, specialist and professional support and care for people with terminal illness across West Hertfordshire and the Chiltern area of Buckinghamshire.
Our catchment area includes Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Harpenden, Wheathampsted, Markyate, The Chalfonts, Amersham, Chesham and Abotts Langley.
We provide tailored help for each individual patient’s needs and works closely with them to support their choices.
We must raise in excess of £3 million each year just to keep our doors open and we receive just 19 per cent of our running costs from the NHS.
Care is given at our purpose built Berkhamsted facilities, in the patient’s home or via outreach care in local hospitals and nursing homes.
We currently have funding to open only eleven out of our fourteen inpatient beds. Many of our patients come for short stays to improve difficult symptoms (such as pain, breathlessness, nausea or anxiety) and are able to return home. If patients are reaching the end of their illness, then we can care for them at the Hospice until they die.
As well as nursing and medical care, we provide physiotherapy, occupational therapy, complementary therapies and family support.
Our Day Hospice provides a relaxed and supportive change of scene for patients who are being cared for at home. We offer access to therapies, medical assessment and emotional support also providing a break for carers.
Our Specialist Home Care Nurses work with our Hospice doctors, GPs and District Nurses to achieve the best possible care for patients at home, which may be over many months.
Our Supportive Care team offers practical, social, emotional and psychological advice to patients and their families throughout their illness, helping them to manage the difficult issues.
They also provide an extensive bereavement support service including a telephone support line, groups, family therapy and individual counselling for adults and children.
We have 900 volunteers who help us in all aspects of the hospice in the kitchen, in our inpatient unit and day hospice, gardening, fundraising, in the shops and offices.
Ultimately, we hope to bring peace, comfort and dignity to people, helping them to live life to the full and provide essential support for their families and carers. All our services combine to give our patients total care when time is precious.
NOTES TO EDITORS
From small beginnings in 1979 the Hospice has developed its services to provide total care every step of the way. We have built a new hospice to give our care to more people and we urgently need to raise funds to keep our services running.
We rely on the generosity of our local community to fund £2.7million per year to run the Hospice. This comes from many individuals, local businesses, trusts, schools, community groups, our shops, our lottery and Gifts in Wills.