2025 has been another remarkable year at the Hospice of St Francis. Thank you for caring about our Hospice. Thank you for supporting us.
A hospice truly is a gift the community gives to itself.
At The Hospice of St Francis we are proud to be founded and funded by local people for local people. A tradition inspired in 1978 by Pam Macpherson, the Hospice employed its first specialist palliative care nurse in 1979 bringing expert and essential care to patients at home. We gave our expertise as professionals and trained volunteers to reduce fear and help patients and families to discover; Hospice care is finding ways to address those symptoms with consummate skill and focus on living life to the very end of your life.
Since 1979, across a population of 500,000, 35,000 local people had that experience of Hospice care from The Hospice of St Francis. Hospice care truly is one of the greatest gifts we can give to each other.
In 2026 my own contribution to the care and stewardship of this remarkable place will come to an end.
Here is a snapshot of our time together in numbers. Behind every number is a personal story, a generous donor and a skilled team.
We have seen innovation in the care
- Taking the whole hospice team to you at home, to give local people real choice over when and where they can have the most complex and intensive palliative care.
- Complex prescribing to match more complex patient needs, with our nurses and pharmacists becoming prescribers too
- The transformation of our well-being services, from SCAR therapy and bespoke physiotherapy to our walking programme and complementary therapies to name just a few
- Investment in our in-patient unit to create two self contained flats and a dedicated overnight stay space for families.
- The expansion of our community team, funded entirely by donation available 7 days a week.
- Partnerships with the NHS and Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care to create a dedicated out of hours helpline, one number for new referrals and 'the rapid personalised care service' our specialist hospice care at home service in the last weeks of life.
We have seen innovation in how we work together to raise funds
- We have 12 amazing shops on the high street and shop4good on-line
- Digital fundraising, because more people want to give on line, now raises £250k a year
- Our Guardians who fund bereavement care now fund these services for children and adults
- Our gardens now host our plant sale, the chance to walk and talk with our head gardener and a place where we harvest apples for juice and our bees give us honey
- Our kitchen crew with treat boxes, cream teas, ice-cream sales and so much more looks after all our nutritional needs
We work and belong to the most beautiful place. We have mornings when the sun chases mist from the grass to reveal deer nuzzling, then startled, ears raised, by the sudden reveal.
And in amongst the joy and tears, we are trusted, relied on and respected.
I've been honoured to be CEO for the last 8 years. Thank you.
Hospice care truly is one of the greatest gifts we can give to each other.
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