The importance of the Hospice

Our team is dedicated to bringing comfort to people in the final stages of their lives and support for those left behind.

Often, people say to me, “Your job must be so sad,” but the opposite is true – helping to restore dignity and prioritise what matters most to patients and their families is an honour. However, the job that I love is becoming increasingly challenging due to financial restrictions.

I think what makes St. Michael’s special is the environment is very peaceful. We are a small hospice, which means we can give people a really individualise, caring environment – we have more time but we also have the option to go to their homes. So, we can prioritise their choices. Compared to the Hospital where it can be quite chaotic – we work to change the focus from the illness to the person.

That is what makes palliative care so important – we are less time pressured, the setting and environment is different and we have a higher staff to patient ratio.

We provide individualised support to people in our community during their most vulnerable times. This support is not just for those at the end of their lives but also for their family and friends.

It may come as a surprise, but only 2 out of every 10 patients are funded by the government. End-of-life care is an essential service, not a luxury, yet it is not funded like other care services. As a charity, we depend on the kindness of supporters to help us raise the additional £15,000 a day needed to keep our services running.

Together, we can ensure that St. Michael’s Hospice continues to provide specialised care well into the future.