Thank you
Our values Bold Passionate Caring
Between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024, St Helena Hospice cared for more than 4,200 local people facing incurable illness and bereavement in north east Essex, supporting them, their families, friends, and carers.
The last two years have been our busiest ever. I am immensely proud of how our teams have responded to the growing demands for care and support placed on them. I was delighted that despite the volume of work, an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in January 2024 resulted in us retaining our ‘Outstanding’ rating, the highest award that can be granted.
Growing demands and rising costs have meant the last year has been incredibly challenging financially and we ended the year with a significant deficit. Whilst we have made some necessary savings, we are determined to be creative and to innovate our way to a more financially secure future.
We launched our new arts and crafts venture, The Creation Station, and have continued to grow our Total Clean commercial cleaning company and Radfield Home Care business. More recently we have introduced new paid for respite and bereavement support services. We have also built on our joined-up way of working with the NHS and social care to take on additional fully funded community services to help us provide better care for local people and to achieve economies of scale that previously would not have been possible. We would not be here today and in the future without your incredible contributions. Through donating, volunteering, playing Your Hospice Lottery, visiting our shops or supporting our social enterprise businesses, you showed just how important St Helena is to the community.
We can only continue to be there for you and the people you love with your support.
As we look ahead to next year and our upcoming 40th anniversary in 2025, I want to thank you for your unwavering generosity and kindness.
Mark Jarman-Howe Chief Executive
Outstanding care
Last year, St Helena cared for 4,248 local people facing incurable illness and bereavement. Support was provided in people’s homes, over the phone through our 24/7 SinglePoint advice line, and at the Hospice in Colchester. With only 20% of our income received from the NHS last year, pressure mounts to find new and innovative ways to generate the funds we need to ensure we can be there for the people you love. We now need to raise 80% of our income through the local community. You can read more about all the ways you can support St Helena and help raise funds, throughout this report.
It’s your continued support that will help St Helena achieve our ambition of doubling our reach over the next ten years.
3,166 people with incurable illness cared for
INCOME STREAMS 2023-2024
FUNDRAISING GIFTS IN WILLS GRANTS RETAIL LOTTERY RADFIELD TOTAL CLEAN INVESTMENTS OTHER
1,082 family members supported
£847,804 raised from 33 people leaving a gift to St Helena in their Will
Gifts in Wills
Every gift left to St Helena in a Will is a tremendous honour that is never taken for granted. It is the ultimate compliment for all the hard work we do for the people you love. Leaving a gift in your Will could do wonders for St Helena and future generations. Will you leave a gift in your Will?
Last year, we partnered with Octopus Legacy to offer you the opportunity to write your Will for free. We encourage anyone without a Will to take advantage of this opportunity. www.sthelena.org.uk/wills
Regular giving
Regular givers are the backbone of St Helena. By committing to a regular gift, you are helping to create a stable foundation that enables St Helena to focus on our mission; ensuring patients can live their remaining days with dignity and comfort.
Will you consider giving a regular gift of £5 a month? www.sthelena.org.uk/regulargiving
431 regular gifts helped raise £63,721
Events and challenges
Whether you take on an adrenaline-pumping challenge such as a skydive or walk over fire, glass or Lego; or join in our popular Pier to Pier walk, family friendly Hero Run, or Midnight Walkyou can have fun while supporting St Helena! Taking part in our events or organising your own is a fantastic way to raise money, support your local hospice and enjoy time spent with friends and family, or to remember a loved one together. www.sthelena.org.uk/events
May 2023 saw 621 people walking along the seafront between Clacton and Walton at Pier to Pier to raise an incredible £61,328.
Philanthropy
Philanthropy empowers St Helena to deliver exceptional services and exceed expectations. Every gift fuels our mission, reflecting the personal values and commitment of our donors. Our incredible major donors are catalysts for change, transforming lives and inspiring others. Together, we create a lasting legacy of compassion and care. www.sthelena.org.uk/philanthropy
Pier to Pier walk
162 super people dressed up for Hero Run in March 2024
Play Your Hospice Lottery for your chance to win one of 422 weekly cash prizes or even a rollover that could reach £25,000all for just £1 per play.
13,875 people played the lottery for St Helena last year, raising a whopping £806,865, which could pay to run the inpatient unit at the Hospice for nearly 20 weeks.
Look out for the brand new Super Draw, where one lucky player could win £10,000 in time for Christmas!
www.sthelena.org.uk/lottery
In
Making a donation in memory is a meaningful way to honour a loved one. Whether you’re requesting funeral donations in lieu of flowers, or celebrating their life at our Christmas Light up a Life events, your gesture makes a lasting impact.
To mark St Helena Hospice’s 40th anniversary next year, we will be offering limited edition ruby leaves for dedication on our Memory Tree located at the Hospice. www.sthelena.org.uk/inmemory
Shop St Helena
We have 24 St Helena shops across north east Essex which raised more than £4.6 million in the last 12 months. We opened two new shops and our retail operations team moved to bigger premises, thanks to the huge amount of donated items from our local communities. Please keep visiting and donating your quality preloved items!
We also offer a full or part house clearance service, where our professional, efficient and empathetic team can take a difficult task off your hands.
Specialist shops and cafés
We have two cafés: one on Mersea Island and another tucked inside our Books, Brew & Boutique in Stanway. A dedicated book shop and a music shop in Frinton and a vintage store in Colchester town centre, are all destination shopping locations.
Browse our online eBay, Etsy and DePop stores for treasures, and find a range of new goods at our website shop.
Our shops simply couldn’t open their doors without our amazing team of dedicated volunteers. If you can spare a few hours a week or month, why not join our friendly team too? www.sthelena.org.uk/shop
1,710,933 items purchased from our shops last year
908 volunteers across St Helena, over 600 supporting our retail teams
House clearance Cafés
£349,568 was raised last year from our online shops alone. This could pay to run our Hospice in the Home community services for just over a year, supporting people in their own homes.
How you can help us Home care
Radfield Home Care in support of St Helena has been providing high quality personal care in Colchester, Frinton and Clacton for over two years, investing all its profits back into St Helena. Now offering night sitting and live-in care, alongside domiciliary care, if you or a loved one needs compassionate and tailored care at home, our Radfield team is here to help. www.sthelena.org.uk/radfield
Commercial cleaning services
We launched our commercial cleaning social enterprise in summer 2023 to provide high quality cleaning services to businesses in Colchester, with all profits being reinvested into St Helena.
Total Clean in support of St Helena has since expanded to Chelmsford and Ipswich and offers a social value promise, supporting clients with their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) aspirations and boosting their profile and public image. www.sthelena.org.uk/totalclean
Creative activities
In January 2024, we launched a brand new social enterprise, bringing creative activities to all ages. The Creation Station in support of St Helena offers award-winning art and craft classes and groups to people in Colchester and surrounding areas, with all money raised going to St Helena.
We offer exciting Holiday Camps packed with activities for your children or grandchildren during school holidays, after school clubs during term times, and fun arty birthday parties including slime-themed! And for adults, enjoy a sip and paint night. www.sthelena.org.uk/creationstation
New enterprises
At St Helena, we are always seeking new and sustainable ways to generate income. We know we cannot sit still and rely solely on traditional fundraising to meet the increasing demand for end of life care and bereavement support.
Keep an eye on our website, social media and in the news for upcoming announcements about new ventures by and for St Helena. www.sthelena.org.uk/news
The difference you made to people cared for at home
Most people under St Helena’s care prefer to be at home, where they feel most comfortable. Among those helping that to happen is our SinglePoint service, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last September.
Last year alone, there were 41,924 calls made to the SinglePoint phone line which is invaluable in providing advice and support to people when they are struggling.
Alongside the 24/7 help and information phone line, the team provides rapid response home visits to families in crisis, offering urgent assessments and immediate support with symptom management.
Ross Chirgwin is a rapid response clinical nurse specialist (CNS) and non-medical prescriber (NMP) in our SinglePoint team. He said:
When we visit, we’re able to manage someone’s symptoms quickly, improving the experience for patients and families by being able to obtain their medications quickly. Ultimately, we’re preventing people from ending up in hospital and instead keeping them in their preferred place of care.
1,678 rapid response visits made to families in crisis.
Hospice in the Home CNSs are often the first to visit someone at home. They will help individuals plan for future care, including the sort of care they might like and where they may want to be cared for.
11,990 contacts made to patients being supported at home through in-person visits, phone calls and video calls.
Our Home Ward (previously the Virtual Ward) continues to provide personal care and support during the last weeks of life, allowing people to stay in the comfort of their own homes. Last year, 328 people were supported by the Home Ward, preventing unwanted hospital admissions.
86% of patients on the Home Ward died in their preferred place of care.
1,285 contacts from the medical team with patients at home and at the Hospice.
Daisy made the decision to stop treatment and have quality rather than quantity of life. Before Daisy died at home, surrounded by her loved ones, her mum, Lynda, explained the impact of the Hospice in the Home team.
When Di, our clinical nurse specialist, first turned up at our house, Daisy said ‘it’s a really unfortunate name you’ve got there Di, because I’m dying and you’re called Di!’ It just made us all laugh.
I couldn’t quite believe that one person was going to take on everything that we’ve been trying to manage and understand. It’s little things that make a huge difference, like sorting medication, because that means in my lunch hour I can sit with my daughter and have lunch with her, I’m not queuing up in the pharmacy. It gives us time back.
I have called SinglePoint and they do what they say they’re going to do. They’re always there, it doesn’t matter when you phone them. They’re knowledgeable and it’s nice that you feel safe.
I just can’t express enough what a difference to our lives
St Helena Hospice has made. It’s like peace, and that’s what we needed because it was chaos before, and now it’s calm. They have changed my life completely, it’s golden.
Unless you’re living it, you’ll never understand the difference that makes, and it really makes a huge difference, massive.
It was Daisy’s wish to raise as much money as she could for St Helena, so more people could benefit from the care and support her family received.
Over the Easter weekend in March 2024, the Love, Daisy campaign raised £30,763.24, enough to run our community services for just over a month, helping people to remain at home, if that is where they want to be.
Daisy
The difference you made to people staying at the Hospice
A common misconception is that the Hospice is a place people go to die.
Nearly half of those admitted to the Hospice return home after their symptoms or pain have been managed, or after receiving complex emotional or spiritual support.
406 admissions from 345 patients and 42% of patients returned home
To ensure a patient’s home is a safe environment to return to, our occupational therapists and physiotherapists will go to the home to make an assessment and organise equipment to help the patient remain independent for as long as possible.
Our rehabilitation professionals had 5,541 contacts with patients at the Hospice and in their homes
The Hospice team has been granting wishes and creating special moments for patients to enjoy and families to cherish.
Over the year we organised visits from a variety of animals including horses, goats and reindeer. We also brought the
Rehabilitation for independence
seaside – including sand, pie and mash, and a donkey – to a patient’s bedside; hosted a variety of musicians; and facilitated a trip to M&S.
Shaun had a visit from Nelly, a Shire horse. Shaun said:
What a wonderful day; a daydream come true from when I was little. She was beautiful. It’s something I wanted to do for years but I never got around to it so I thought I’d take my chance while I could. I will be eternally thankful.
For those who are admitted for end of life, our staff and volunteers will care for them and support their families around the clock with compassion and dignity, right to the end.
£847,804 was left to St Helena in people’s Wills last year.
This incredible amount could pay for 38,000 hours of nursing care, providing those staying at the Hospice with comfort, compassion and dignity.
Shaun and the Shire horse
1,429 complementary therapies given to patients and family members
Complementary therapies
Rosie
When Rosie’s Hospice in the Home community nurse specialist suggested a stay at the Hospice to control her pain, Rosie was frightened.
You think it’s a place where as soon as you walk through the doors, you feel the dreaded death come over you, but in fact, it’s the opposite; you feel life come over you.
I was greeted by a nurse and they just made me feel at home. I immediately felt like part of a little family.
People going in there know they may never get better, but they can always feel better because the Hospice is there to give life for as long as you have life in your body.
I went home for a few weeks and then took a bit of a downturn and was readmitted into the Hospice. There was no response from me at all and my family was told this could be end of life. But three days later I was sitting out in the garden in the sunshine drinking piña colada; life doesn’t get much better than that! That’s the Hospice magic.
They’ve made me feel I’m still worth something. I might be towards the end of my life, but I’m still me. The Hospice may be full, but when they’re with you, they’re there just for you and you alone, and that’s worth everything to think you are the most special person in their life at that precise moment.
The difference you made in creating compassion
We believe everyone should be able to live well with incurable illness, to die with dignity in a place of their choice, and be supported in their grief, regardless of their age, race, socio-economic situation, gender, nationality, sexuality, disability or beliefs.
Our Safe Harbour team addresses the additional barriers some people face in accessing our care.
Last year, Safe Harbour focused on socio-economically deprived communities who, despite experiencing higher levels of chronic health conditions, are underrepresented in hospice care.
88 contacts with 17 patients through Safe Harbour, nine of whom were from areas of deprivation
Through joint efforts with local organisations and our compassionate communities networks; we are helping more people living in deprivation to receive the support they need and to die in their preferred place of care.
St Helena has been at the forefront of a compassionate communities project, collaborating with other local charities, local councils and organisations, culminating in Colchester
becoming the first accredited Compassionate City in the East of England.
We aim to inspire more people to be kind and compassionate to others in need of support during life’s most difficult moments.
Last autumn, we held a cultural awareness event where representatives from local cultural groups shared their practices around dying and grief, helping us learn how to make hospice care more accessible to their communities.
We now have cultural awareness ambassadors who support patients of similar backgrounds, and are building relationships with more underserved communities.
In 2023 our Hero Run raised £12,734. This could provide spiritual care and emotional support for 573 people, helping them explore their thoughts and feelings.
702 spiritual care contacts with people at the Hospice and in the community
David
David volunteers as a ward helper at the Hospice taking meals and drinks to patients, which informs his other volunteer role with our Safe Harbour outreach initiative, particularly working with the Chinese community.
It was unfortunate the Hospice didn’t have a place for my wife on her last days, so I wanted to be involved because my wife missed the opportunity.
Asking patients what they would like for lunch and to serve them, change their water, makes me joyful from the inside that I make my little contribution.
You can read from a leaflet, but nothing replaces the actual experience. Being inside the Hospice as a ward helper means I can describe it the best way I can to our Safe Harbour communities and say ‘this is where help is’ in language they can appreciate.
There are communities that are quite private in their own culture, and tradition is for them to care for their sick. Hospice in the Home opens up the service to many more people and allows the best of both worlds in that you can be at home with your closest and have the support of the Hospice as well.
I feel that my wife is with me in passing that information on, and her memory lives on to help whoever will come for our help in the future, in a way that’s suitable for their community and their cultural needs.
The difference you made to people grieving
Our counselling and emotional support service remains as busy as ever, providing grief counselling for adults and children, regardless of where or how their loved one died.
The team also supports patients and their loved ones with emotional support and counselling.
884 adults and 117 children were referred for bereavement support and 514 people referred for emotional support pre death
Only around a fifth of our referrals come from people whose loved one was supported by St Helena before they died, often because these families have been supported prior to their loved one’s death.
Our team also supports people bereaved by sudden or traumatic death, suicide, and pregnancy loss, stillbirth and neonatal death.
25% of referrals for bereavement were from multiple deaths
Last year, the St Helena bereavement team collaborated with local charity Age Well East to create an online platform dedicated to providing invaluable resources and support for people navigating bereavement.
To Live With Dying is a website serving as a hub for individuals, carers and healthcare professionals seeking guidance and support in addressing the complex issues surrounding dying, death and bereavement.
Its bereavement section offers guidance on grief counselling services or peer support groups and relevant local information and contacts.
Nicola Button, associate director of operations at St Helena, said: Having one point of information for all bereavement needs across north east Essex means individuals can quickly and easily access the service that best meets their needs.
www.tolivewithdying.co.uk
4,458 contacts from the bereavement team with those grieving a loved one
£159,059 was raised through Timeless Tribute Funds, a personalised online space for people to remember loved ones and donate in their memory. This could pay to run our bereavement service for five and a half months supporting people experiencing grief.
Chris
When Sarah was admitted to the Hospice, the team stepped in with emotional support for her husband, Chris, and their young son, Louie, and following her death, Chris began bereavement counselling.
Louie is a bright and energetic four year old who understands a lot about mummy from photographs and family talking about her.
The family support worker, Sue, suggested we include Louie and allow him to visit Sarah, and it was a heartwarming occasion, so then he was included in everything. He was not excluded for being a young child, he was included for being Sarah’s little boy.
Sarah’s diagnosis and end of life was an emotional period which nobody would wish to encounter, but the support that was available from St Helena really helped take the edge off what I was going through. It doesn’t change the heartache, but I know support is there and a security blanket around me if I need anything.
I took the view that what harm can talking and opening up at bereavement counselling actually do? It was a good group of people, and I could see the counsellor, Chris, let the discussion go where it needed to, and I learned a lot about grief.
The counselling provided an understanding for me that I can’t just expect to turn up to the sessions and the feeling of grief will be conquered. Counselling provided coping strategies and I know I’m not alone.
Looking to the future
Create job opportunities
Double our reach
Our vision remains to double our reach by 2033. We recognise that many more people, not only those in their final year of life but also those in the last phase of life, could benefit from the exceptional care St Helena provides.
The only way we can meet the growing palliative and last phase of life care needs of our local population, is if we are innovative and open to new ways of attracting and combining charitable, public sector and private income.
We are so incredibly well supported by the local community through fundraising, donating, supporting our shops and playing Your Hospice Lottery, but we cannot rely solely on this to recover from our £1 million deficit and to help us grow our income to meet the demand for care locally.
We have therefore been developing new commercial entities to protect our patient services for the future, and we are constantly looking for new opportunities.
Grow our income
Our social enterprises - Total Clean, Radfield Home Care and Creation Station, all in support of St Helena (which you can read more about on pages 8 and 9) - will continue to expand and help us to turn the corner. We now offer Forget Me Not, a private (fee payment) bereavement service, and are introducing a new paid-for respite service, offering people a temporary stay at the Hospice designed so their carers can take a rest from caring for loved ones.
Our new businesses are creating job opportunities and we anticipate recruiting for numerous positions over the coming year, which will further benefit the local community and stimulate economic growth.
This coming year we have no intention of sitting still. Hospice income will remain very challenging, but we are committed to adapting our services and generating the necessary income to make our vision of extending our support to all who need it, a reality.
Thank you for your support...
Ace Catering Engineering Ltd
Anglian Security
Asda Community Foundation
Ashbee Solutions
B&Q Colchester
Barclays
Bartleet Family Fund, administered by Essex Community Foundation
Birkett Long
Boydens
Codair Design & Publicity Ltd / Atlas
Colchester Borough Homes
Colchester Catalyst
Culver Square Shopping Centre
DA Cant
Drapers’ Charitable Fund
East of England Coop Community Cares
Fund
EE Colchester
Enterprise Holdings Foundation
Essex County Council
Essex Mechanical Services
Evelyn May Trust
Fenwick
Fisher Jones Greenwood
FSJ Trust
Grahams Plumbers Merchant
Hello Dental
HG Construction
Horizon Construction Ltd
Hunnaball Family Funeral Group
Informa
Ingleton Wood
Institute of Our Lady of Mercy
John Fowlers
Jones & Whymark
Julia and Hans Rausing
Kier
Later Life Lending
Linklaters
Marvans Vegetation Management
Matt Sage Plumbing & Heating
MHA
Morgan Sindall
Morrisons Foundation
Nantmor Blinds
Norfolk Water Ltd
Optimum Print
Parkers Garden Company
Pickering Group
Ramsey Step Down & Care Centre
Reeman Dansie
Right at Home
Rose Calendars
S & K News Ltd
ShareGift
Signs Made Easy
Stanley Bragg Architects
Tails of Wigborough
Team Lewis
The Charles S French Charitable Trust
The Dixie Rose Findlay Charitable Trust
The Hobson Charity
The Hospital Saturday Fund
The John Walter Wynne Charitable Discretionary Trust
The Leslie Mary Carter Charitable Trust
The Marconi Companies Charitable Fund
The Nichol-Young Foundation
The Percy Bilton Charity
Tiptree Patisserie
Tokio Marine Kilne
Tree & Lawn Company
TTSS
UK Plumbing
Water Monitoring Ltd
Weeks Group
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