St Richard's Hospice Annual Review 2020/21

Annual Review 2020/21

What we do St Richard’s Hospice is an independent charity caring for adults with a serious progressive illness, improving their quality of life from diagnosis, during treatment and to their last days and supporting their loved ones.

be. We work with other health-care partners to prevent crisis intervention and hospital admissions where possible. We care for patients in South Worcestershire including Worcester, Droitwich, Pershore, Evesham, Malvern, Tewkesbury, Broadway, Martley and surrounding areas. This includes in-patient and community care, Living Well services and a range of further support.

Last year we gave co-ordinated care and support to 2,935 patients, loved ones and the bereaved.

Patients from the Wyre Forest, Kidderminster, Redditch and Bromsgrove areas can access In-patient care.

We aim to improve patients’ quality of life, helping them to live as fully as they can to the end of their lives, however long that may

Everything we do is made possible thanks to the wonderful generosity of our donors, supporters and volunteers.

Our year in numbers We supported 2,935 patients, their loved ones and the bereaved

1,152 patients supported by our Community Nursing Teams

275 patients cared for in our In-patient Unit 377 individuals supported

by Living Well Services

1,598 individuals helped by the Family Support Team Our CQC inspection report in 2016 gave us an overall rating of good.

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Our values Caring

Compassionate

Committed

Professional

Caring is at the heart of what we do

We work with empathy, sensitivity and understanding

We are dedicated, reliable and hard working

We aspire to be the best in everything we do

We continuously strive to deliver highquality services

We are innovative and develop our skills through continuous learning and evaluation

We are inclusive and treat everyone as an individual who we respect and value We take time to listen and respond to the needs of each person

We are considerate, kind and fair We support and empower individual choice

We support each other and work together for the benefit of our patients and loved ones

We take responsibility for our actions and are accountable.

The care and support we offer Hospice at Home Service

Living Well Services In-patient Unit for Specialist Palliative Care

Community Nursing Team

Family Support Services Education and Resources Centre Medical Services Volunteer Services

Spiritual Care

Outpatient facility for Consultantled clinics

Allied Healthcare Professionals

Every day, the team at St Richard’s Hospice has more than 1,220 people under our care – at the hospice, in people’s own homes or in the community.

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Chairman’s reflection As I stepped down as Chairman at the end of the 20/21 financial year, I can say without doubt that it was a12 months like no other in my 14 years in the role.

I am so proud of the incredible achievements of all the teams at St Richard’s Hospice during this exceptionally challenging time in our history.

The clinical staff showed extraordinary bravery, compassion, professionalism and innovation, continuing to care for patients and families through the Covid pandemic.

Staff on our In-patient Unit were on the front line giving face-to-face care to our patients with all the necessary safety protocols in place – it was truly humbling.

Working within all the frequently changing guidance, the teams also continued to support loved ones with great compassion.

Our Living Well services, Community Nursing, Hospice at Home and Family Support Teams quickly switched from face-to-face to virtual, via online video calls and by telephone, and visits where clinically essential.

We shared our expertise, with the Education Team supporting over 50 nursing and care homes and other health professionals and the Family Support Team giving their knowledge of bereavement to other organisations and schools to benefit even more people.

Those volunteers who were safely able to continue their roles, also showed determination and resilience. We can’t thank them enough for their amazing work which included volunteers giving skilled emotional support for patients and bereaved people over the phone; delivering food parcels, shopping for patients who were shielding; collecting 4

essential Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and helping staff run virtual groups such as book club and nature therapy sessions.

As with all charities, it has been financially difficult since the pandemic struck. But thanks to our remarkable supporters and additional NHS and government funding for hospices as well as donations from trusts and grant organisations, we ended the financial year in a healthy position.

One significant highlight of the year was the completion of the Build 2020 project, thanks to our generous supporters. Now we have a bigger hospice we can better support our current patients and reach the unmet need of thousands of local people in the future, offering the right care and support when they need it most. We look forward to welcoming patients, families and visitors to the new spaces as soon as it’s safe to do so.

I am delighted to welcome a new highlyexperienced Chair of Governors to lead St Richard’s. Jenny Cowpe (pictured below) has been a Governor of St Richard’s Hospice for more than 20 years and Vice-Chair since 2001.

I’m sure that Jenny, the Governors, staff, volunteers and all involved with St Richard’s will build on the excellent care and face any challenges ahead with confidence.

John Bawden Chairman (retired April 2021)

Jenny Cowpe

New Chair of Governors

Nicole’s story “St Richard’s has kept me going, encouraging me, supporting me. The team there has all my admiration and gratitude.”

These are the words of Nicole, from Worcester, who is living with a kidney condition and who has received care and support from St Richard’s for the last three years.

experiences and ways of coping. When the pandemic struck, many services moved to video or phone calls to keep people as safe as possible.

“I get calls once or twice a week to see how I’m doing and offers of help to improve my mobility and wellbeing,” said Nicole, who goes onto her balcony for fresh air and walks around her apartment for exercise.

Nicole, now 80, says care and guidance from the Living Well team has been so precious to her, both before and during the pandemic.

“I couldn’t walk at all, but with the help of the St Richard’s physiotherapist giving me exercises to do and encouraging me to do a little more each day, I can now walk without my legs going from under me.”

She came to the hospice in Wildwood Drive, Worcester regularly to the specialist renal clinics where she would talk to consultants and other experts on all aspects of her condition and meet others in a similar situation to share

“I’ve never felt on my own. With St Richard’s there’s always someone to support me or my partner. There are really no words to express how much help they are and how much we appreciate the care and support of St Richard’s.”

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The Gateway Service The Gateway Service acts as a ‘gateway to hospice care’ for patients, families and professionals.

The Gateway Team is staffed with three Community Clinical Nurse Specialists and a Social Worker. This team of highly skilled professionals makes telephone contact with every new referral into the hospice and for Bereavement Support South Worcestershire.

They undertake a telephone triage assessment and ensure that the patient gets the right support, from the right person or team, at the right time. As the first point of contact the team explains all about hospice services and offers patient/family choice about access to care.

The nurses field calls for the Community Nursing Team when they are out visiting and can manage complex symptoms and provide emotional support as needed.

The Gateway Team manages all of the helpline calls for people requiring immediate assistance and advice to get urgent help when needed.

During the pandemic these calls have increased in number due to isolation and anxiety.

The team also supports planned and unplanned admissions and transfer to the hospice from the community and hospitals.

They regularly call patients and families to provide compassionate support at the end of the telephone.

Throughout the pandemic, the Gateway Team fielded many distressed calls where relatives and patients couldn’t be together at the end of life.

The team’s emotional support has guided families through these difficult times when isolation has prevented physical contact. Their telephone support has been pivotal in helping people cope with the challenging times everyone has faced.

Gateway has also been able to support health care professionals with their distress and with the challenges of managing care remotely.

2,055 referrals into Gateway 10,065 telephone calls 299 IPU admissions supported 476 people supported by telephone calls only

The Gateway Team

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‘Whenever I call the Gateway Team I feel like I am being given a large hug in a warm blanket.

They are always available, helpful and reliable’

Our nursing team in the community Most of our patients tell us that they would prefer to spend their last days in their own homes. This is where they feel safe and comfortable, and can spend precious time with their loved ones.

Our highly experienced Nurse Specialists, supported by Senior Staff Nurses, use their skills and knowledge to help manage patients’ symptoms, support them and their families and carers in making informed choices and refer onto appropriate additional services.

staff is minimised. It also allows the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) to use and advise the appropriate level of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) required. Patients and families are reassured by the diligence of the team when conducting home visits.

Last year the Clinical Nurse Specialist team had 33,813 contacts via face-to-face, telephone, text, email or digital platforms.

Hospice at Home Our Hospice at Home service provides additional support which enables patients to remain in their own home.

The team continued to provide face-to-face care during the day throughout the pandemic.

Following a risk assessment they resumed the night sitting service in March 2021, providing 24 hour care to support patients and families.

During the past year the team cared for 365 patients.

Referrals are received from: the St Richard’s Community Nurses, GPs, the Neighbourhood Teams and acute and community hospitals.

How they are supported is determined by what the patient prefers: this can be through face-toface meetings at the patient’s home, GP surgery or the hospice. Often there is a combination of face-to-face, telephone, text and email contact.

The team continues to deliver high quality care and responds to the ever-increasing complex dynamics of social and psychological needs of patients as well as their physical symptom needs. They work alongside other health care professionals, social service departments and voluntary/charity organisations to ensure the patient has the access to the services which may be needed to support their care. The hospice Secondary Breast Cancer Nurse Specialist works flexibly across the acute hospital, oncology clinics, wards and St Richard’s Hospice responding to the changing needs and support for patients. When a home visit is required the team continues to employ the Covid-19 screening tool first implemented in March 2020.

This ensures the risk for patients, relatives and

Referrals are for: Crisis care: where a patient’s situation is changing rapidly and there is a high risk of unnecessary admission to hospital. Hospice at Home is able to step in to provide support at short notice to allow the crisis to be addressed or on-going care needs to be assessed.

Packages of care: are time-limited and are offered as an interim measure whilst a longerterm provider of care is identified.

‘Carer support’ is a crucial part of Hospice at Home service provision. By supporting the carer, we are able to increase the likelihood of the patient remaining at home (if that is their wish).This also includes where patients are supported whilst their carer may attend support at St Richard’s Hospice, their own appointments, or have the opportunity for some uninterrupted rest.

This support for carers continues to be a significant part of the work for the Hospice at Home Team and can often prevent crisis and subsequent admission to the hospice In-patient Unit or acute care.

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The Living Well Centre

A Living Well Services nurse supports a patient to access the Love Books virtual group.

The aim of the Living Well Services Team is to enable patients and families to live well, promote independence, confidence and good quality of life.

When lockdown was first imposed, and we could no longer invite out-patients to the hospice for face-to-face care, our Living Well Team responded rapidly to continue its services virtually. Despite the challenges, a constant during a year of so much change was the unwavering focus on supporting the wellbeing of patients and their loved ones.

Care continued over the phone and by video call, ensuring none of our patients felt alone at such a worrying time. As a result of our fast innovation and dedication, we were one of the first hospices in the country to launch virtual care for out-patients and carers.

The Living Well Team’s vision is for patients and their families to feel empowered to live well with their illness, and have the best quality of life possible. This did not change during the pandemic.

Each patient has the power to shape their journey with St Richard’s. They work with their hospice healthcare professional to discuss what is important to them, what they would like to achieve, and set personal goals in line with their needs. This way of working gives the patient control to make choices about their care, at a time when they may feel

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powerless. The team offered a wide range of virtual care to manage symptoms and psychological needs.

Within the team are palliative Doctors and Nurses and Senior Healthcare Assistants, a Psychologist, Physiotherapists, a Creative Therapist, Occupational Therapists and a Complementary Therapist.

A variety of care was available, including: one-toone support via telephone call or video call; specialist clinics; one-to-one psychological support; courses such as adapted tai chi, sharing stories, and managing breathlessness; and virtual social groups such as nature therapy and quiet time.

The Living Well Team also collaborates with other hospice departments to ensure patients receive the best care for their needs. For example, they might refer a patient to our Family Support Team or for spiritual care with Chaplaincy. Over the course the pandemic, the number of people supported by the Living Well Team has increased.

“Listening to other people saying they are very frightened when they cannot get their breath helped me to know I am not the only one who feels like this. It is very frightening, but I am learning that if others are scared too and are ok, I can be ok.

“We all have different illnesses, but we are all breathless in the group so can help each other.”

Out-patient Clinics St Richard’s continued to hosts specialist palliative joint supportive clinics for people affected by Parkinson’s, respiratory conditions, heart failure and renal failure – by moving them to online or by telephone. The clinics aim to improve quality of life for patients by proactively managing their illness, and helping them and their families to plan for the future.

377 individuals supported

by Living Well Services.

The In-patient Unit The In-patient Unit continues to provide specialist, individualised palliative and end of life care that is totally focused around the needs of the patient and those who are important to them.

We aim to respond to all of the needs that a patient or family may have – including pain and symptom control issues, physical problems or spiritual, social or psychological concerns.

A temporary visitor greeting area was set up in the hospice gardens to follow Covid-precautions

This care is provided by a team that includes Specialist Doctors, Nurses, Chaplaincy, Social Workers, Family Support, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists and Complementary Therapists.

We continue to follow government guidance and stringent infection control measures including the wearing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and maintaining effective hand washing. To ensure the safety of our

patients and staff, sadly we have had to reduce the number of face-to-face visitors whilst maintaining flexibility for visits at the end of life.

Where face-to-face contact is not a safe option, we encourage families to stay in touch using technology such as video calls and apps and provide portable technology in patient rooms to enable virtual visiting where appropriate.

This year on IPU has been exceptionally challenging including embedding an enhanced Infection, Prevention and Control programme, co-ordinating shift patterns around shielding, self-isolation and sickness plus introducing regular staff, patient and visitor testing regimes, all helping to keep everyone safe.

Patient safety, equity, treatment and comfort have been our priorities throughout the pandemic and it’s a real testament to all involved that we have been able to maintain our high clinical and holistic standards throughout.

Barrie’s story “The care that the hospice team gave to Suzy at home, and during the final weeks as an in-patient was something I’ll never forget. The level of care and compassion shown to Suzy, myself, and the children was heart-warming. Nothing was ever a problem, and you were made to feel like you were the only people there, even under the added pressures of Covid.”

Barrie’s wife Suzy, was diagnosed with cervical cancer seven and a half years ago, spending long periods of time in hospital before she died at the hospice in March 2021. As well as caring for Suzy, the hospice has supported Barrie and their children Daisy, 15 and Thomas, 9, through difficult times.

Supporting the family The Family Support Service provides a wide range of help to patients, their families and carers including counselling, bereavement support, social work, community volunteer support, citizens advice and group support.

In addition Bereavement Support South Worcestershire (BSSW) is hosted by St Richard’s Hospice and supports individuals and families who are bereaved unexpectedly.

Some Family Support services switched to virtual and telephone support during this review year.

The team also shared their expertise on bereavement with other organisations and schools to benefit even more people during the pandemic.

Face-to-face work is slowly being re-introduced alongside virtual services.

Children supported by the Team celebrate Christmas with the group on a webinar

Social work referrals. Adult: 60 child: 76 13,835 contacts by telephone/ virtual/online contacts 1,598 individuals helped by the Family Support Team. (1,462 adults / 136 under 18s)

£

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£359,209 obtained for patients and families in benefits and trust fund grants by the Citizens Advice team

A Social Worker wearing scrubs

Judith and Michael’s story “They can’t make Michael better, we know that,” says Judith.

“But they are there, they are our rock. They are like the light at the end of a dark tunnel.”

Judith is a carer for her husband, Michael, who lives with Parkinson’s. The couple began accessing hospice support during the pandemic. Our teams support them at home, as well as over video call and the telephone.

Judith attends our virtual carers support group, where she can speak to others in a similar situation and share experiences.

Space patient support group where he meets others, talks, and shares experiences. Judith says: “Carers support from St Richard’s has made life totally different.

“I know that I’m not the only one. I know that I can pick up the phone and there is somebody at the other end who will talk through my concerns with me. Nothing is too much bother for them.”

“Just talking to other ladies that have husbands with the same problems as Michael, I can’t tell you – I’ve learned so much,” says Judith. “It’s so nice to talk to people who understand.”

Our teams support Michael at home, allowing Judith time to run personal errands and go shopping. And, we are at the end of the phone to support Judith with any concerns, of questions she may have. During virtual sessions, our complementary therapist has even taught Judith how to give relaxing head and back massages to Michael, to help with his pain. And, Michael attends our virtual Men’s

Supporting each other in groups We run a wide range of groups to support people with different needs including pre-death support, bereavement social groups and therapeutic bereavement groups for adults and children.

Where possible, group work has continued to be offered virtually.

Community Volunteers Volunteers provided vital support, including skilled emotional support for patients and bereaved people over the phone, delivery of food parcels and socially distanced walks and talks when safe to do so.

This service is hosted by St Richard’s Hospice.

Counselling, support for children and families, telephone support, and group support are available for individuals and families who are bereaved through sudden and unexpected death. During this review year, the team supported families bereaved by Covid-19.

227 adults and children referred “Our St Richard’s Social Worker has been an incredible support to myself and my youngest daughter for about 12 months. She is compassionate and caring and has done everything possible during lockdown to help us.”

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Therapies Physiotherapy Physiotherapy is provided for patients in the In-patient Unit and across all our Living Well Services. The majority of patients have a mobility assessment and exercise therapy following a treatment plan which can include breathlessness management strategies and techniques.

The therapists also demonstrate massage techniques such as hand and head massage, and self-massage for an individual or a family member to learn and provide.

276 complementary therapy treatments

These services continued face-to-face where clinically essential or by telephone and online.

335 individuals were referred for physiotherapy

Occupational Therapy Our Occupational Therapists make assessments and provide equipment to maintain a person’s independence at home. They also give advice regarding home adaptations and liaise closely with the community Occupational Therapy teams.

Part of the Occupational Therapist’s and Therapy Support Worker’s role is giving support to patients on managing their energy levels and fatigue.

Therapists work with patients to plan, prioritise, and pace their day to balance activity and rest.

By providing equipment, the team can support a patient to conserve their energy levels. This support has continued face-to-face when essential and also by telephone and online where possible.

164 occupational therapy referrals

Complementary Therapies These are used alongside standard health care and include aromatherapy, relaxation and massage.

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I really have appreciated being able to participate in your online sessions.

Your warm, measured, empathetic, and caring manner is a mark of your professionalism. Whilst the enemy within has seemed to make a point of reminding me of its presence during sessions, I feel that each session has proved beneficial and has helped me develop strategies to deal with pain, as well as help reduce anxiety and stress.

Creative Therapy Creative Therapy is widely acknowledged as having particular benefit to patients with specialist palliative care needs. These may include improved emotional and psychological wellbeing and/or the creation of treasured memories and memorabilia for family and friends.

During the past year we have turned our creative services around to embrace online contact and support. Our website now has a set of over a dozen themed resource pages which cover a variety of topics and encourages creativity and wellbeing through exercise and mental stimulation.

Card making kits on various themes are regularly posted to patients and carers who may have found it difficult to get to shops. Homemade cards for celebrations that have been missed

or to say thank you to friends and family for support during this difficult year have been very much appreciated.

Around 30 kits are posted out every week.

Alongside the kits, a card making course runs every few months online, developing creative skills and encouraging creative peer support online.

A new online journaling course has been developed to help with consolidating creativity and feelings brought on by the current climate of changes. Creative support has embraced online platforms with a variety of drop-in groups running, such as art appreciation, take pART (sharing creative ideas), Love Books (reading/book group), and nature therapy.

Patients enjoyed being creative in Drawing a Day month-long projects

Spiritual care and chaplaincy During the pandemic we continued to support patients and families on IPU, and increased our support for patients and families in the community via telephone and video calls. Our volunteer team have been running a Quiet Time drop-in and our Community Chaplain has been running a Mindfulness Group. Our usual Snowdrop Celebrations and Lights of Love services have been produced virtually.

The team has continued to take funeral services and negotiated the complexity of being permitted to have limited service attendance and socially distant seating. At times as few as five people were allowed to attend a funeral service. Staff support also proved to be valuable during this time with one-to-one support, virtual daily services, reflections and mindful minutes, and a WhatsApp prayer group being offered.

The Chaplaincy Team created a Spiritual Treasure Hunt to benefit the wellbeing of patients and loved ones.

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Education and learning Education at St Richard’s continues to thrive with the ethos of supporting our staff to deliver exceptional care.

We also support the wider health economy to develop in relation to palliative and end of life care provision.

Following Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) being introduced to the hospice, further developments have been achieved. Throughout the pandemic we have been able to reach 1,259 care home staff in Worcestershire via the network to provide education, training and support.

The ECHO Model™ develops knowledge and capacity among community providers through technology (multipoint video conferencing and internet) to leverage scarce resources and create knowledge networks. These connect a team of experts located at the hub with learners through regularly scheduled tele-ECHO® sessions.

This can improve outcomes by reducing variations in processes of care, sharing best practices and encouraging case-based learning through guided practice on real-life cases.

We are now able to reinstate the

Alongside supporting external education, we retain a strong focus on our own staff through workforce development including a Management and Leadership course for all Heads of Departments. Part of this work has included attendance to the Worcestershire Sustainable Transformation Planning (STP) Working Group to ensure that any leadership development plans are aligned to the wider workforce development plans of the STP. Our involvement in the wider health economy also allows us to be part of the development and promotion of work-based apprenticeships. By working together, a consistent approach is achieved in regard to the regulatory assessment of providers, thus ensuring high-quality apprenticeship courses that can be offered to staff.

As services within the hospice move back to a more normal format our volunteers are returning as it is assessed safe to do so. Mandatory training and updates on changes and new Covid-related guidance are provided as required, ensuring they are fully supported in their return.

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707 Staff and volunteer attendances at training sessions

991

External staff given training

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provision of placements and courses for a number of students and trainees.

External study days, courses and conferences

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Medical students received training on the In-patient Unit

Involving our community The Engagement Officer aims to widen and deepen the knowledge of St Richard’s services to increase access, awareness and involvement in end of life care.

Engaging with varied groups enables the hospice to understand the needs of different communities and therefore ensure services are equally accessible to all, now and in the future.

Raising awareness continues by holding discussions and talks with community groups and ensuring information about our services is available by having information stands in

GPs, community hospitals and health events.

Although the past year has presented many challenges to community engagement, our Engagement Officer has continued to attend online network meetings and events to support engagement with the hospice.

Our Engagement Officer has been focussing on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at St Richard’s and how we continue to meet the needs of our diverse community.

This work continues with the forming of an EDI Committee where all hospice departments are represented.

This committee will drive and embed EDI throughout our hospice and the Engagement Officer will support this work by continued engagement with our local community.

Volunteers share details of our services and activities at the Worcester Show.

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Our volunteers are superheroes!

Our volunteers are truly remarkable and we are privileged some have been able to donate their time safely during the pandemic.

Volunteer roles include providing skilled emotional support for patients and bereaved people over the phone, delivering food parcels and going on socially distanced walks and talks when safe to do so.

Others have volunteered by working in online patient groups such as Men’s Space, book groups and nature therapy sessions. Our amazing shop volunteers have helped keep our shops up and running between lockdowns.

They give their time freely, simply because they want to make a difference to the lives of others.

We couldn’t continue to offer all our care without these fantastic individuals.

Volunteers contributed a total of 24,425 hours Volunteers involved in patient services worked for 1,196 hours While volunteers assist in a wide range of patient areas, their help with fundraising events; the shops and commercial department and contribution within the administrative functions of the hospice are also essential.

Volunteers played an essential part in keeping our shops open between lockdowns and also on reception. (right)

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Fundraising The five-year strategy for fundraising is very much around resourcing non-event income, specifically digital and diversification of income opportunities through business development.

Whilst this strategy was only in its first year of implementation when the pandemic hit, the hospice was better placed in 2020/21 for the impact of Covid-19 than it would have been previously due to the move toward digital delivery for fundraising.

However, there was, and will continue to be, a significant impact on income as a direct result of events, challenges, and hospitality cancellations.

is a user-centric approach and the Communications Department of St Richard’s played a vital role in this.

The hospice is increasingly dependent on the on-going support from the community and the involvement of many whether they be individuals, groups, clubs, schools, churches, local businesses or a Trust and Grant making organisation. The increase in income from Gifts in Wills over recent years is also significant and continues to help us provide core services.

More recent work with Bequeathed, an online Will writing service, has allowed the hospice to develop its strategies for attracting gifts and increasing the values.

We are grateful to everyone who leaves a bequest to St Richard’s. Regular gifts are also important as they provide sustainable, predictable income and we work hard to encourage support in this way too, especially through the use of social media. St Richard’s will need to continue to find new avenues and approaches to meet the economic demands as the climate will remain uncertain for some time yet and we are grateful, and truly indebted, to all our supporters and thank them for their fundraising and contributions.

Commercial

An annual donation of Christmas cakes to sell or raffle is one of many community initiatives to support hospice fundraising

The strategy to focus on emerging digital income opportunities came to the fore during the Covid crisis and expediated the need to examine diversification of income generation fully.The recruitment of a Business Development Manager, a Digital Marketing Officer and Data Analysis and Insights Manager had an immediate positive impact. Over the past year the transition from in-person to digital income generation has helped negate the disruptive influence on traditional income generation models. Finding ways to diversify income demands a greater focus on the donor and requires a thorough understanding of our donors, and the channels they prefer to use. One of the key components of successful digital fundraising campaigns

The start of this financial year was impacted by Covid-19 and the lockdown. All measures were taken to reduce our costs/overheads as it was uncertain when we would be able to re-open. At this point we had lost 70% of our volunteers, mainly through self-isolation and many of these did not return immediately.When we re-opened in June 2020, many volunteers doubled and tripled their contribution of time. We took a staged approach to re-opening our shops, making sure they were Covid-secure and re-stocked with appropriate seasonal product.

Customers came flocking and the tills rang until our second lockdown in November 2020.

These were very unsettling times with the majority of our staff on furlough. Finally we were able to open again and were well supported by customers before the third lockdown at the beginning of January 2021.

Despite the opening and closing of our shops through the pandemic, each time we opened our customers came back in volume. We operated for a maximum of 170 days with 117,750 customers who purchased goods, compared to a full year of trading of 364,497 customers.The financial results were income of £2,303,182 (including Covid-19 support and business interruption insurance.) The net profit to the hospice was £507,007.

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Financial review This financial year was greatly affected by Covid-19. Income from the hospice’s fundraising and shops was lower than the previous year with Covid government support received to compensate. However, we did not stop delivering care, instead we changed the way we delivered it knowing the need of our community for hospice services remained. Our costs of providing charitable activities remained the same as the previous year.

Dan Haigh Director of Finance and Information

Covid Government support £2.712 million

Investment £0.104 million

Fundraising £2.301 million

TOTAL INCOME £10,762 million

Shops £1.471 million

Income from joint ventures lottery £0.117 million

NHS £2.391 million Education £0.1 million Fundraising £0.842 million Education £0.272 million

TOTAL SPEND £8.756 million

Patient & Family Care £5.768 million

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Gifts In Wills £1.566 million

Generating Funds - Trading £1.845 million

Investment Costs £0.029 million

Year Ended 31st March 2021

INCOME £’000s Fundraising, donations and events 2,301 Shops Income 1,471 Gifts in Wills 1,566 Education and Study Centre 100 NHS Contributions 2,391 Income from joint venture Lottery 117 Investment income 104 Covid Government support 2,712 Total 10,762

EXPENDITURE Our charitable work Patient and family care 5,768 Education and study centre 272 Fundraising and publicity 842 Shops Expenses 1,845 Investment costs 29 Total 8,756

SURPLUS for year 2,006 Investment gains 435 Net increase in Assets 2,441

BALANCE SHEET (as at 31st March 2021)

£’000s Fixed Assets 16,336 Current Assets 4,959 Current Liabilities (917) Net Current Assets 4,042 Long term liabilities (1,767) Net Assets 18,611

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Please help us to do even more in 2022.

On behalf of our patients and families we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported our care.

To help us care for patients and their loved ones in the future, you can fundraise, volunteer or raise awareness of St Richard’s. For more information visit www.strichards.org.uk

St Richard’s Hospice Wildwood Drive, Worcester WR5 2QT | 01905 763963 Registered charity no. 515668. Registered company no. 01850502

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