Welcome
Welcome to our Impact Report for 2023-24.
This year has been the first year of our new strategy; enabling people to live well at the end of life. This strategy will direct us in achieving equity in access to end of life care for all and ensuring our long-term sustainability and success.
Our commitment to working well in partnership for the best outcomes of our beneficiaries is central to success. In collaboration with our colleagues across Sussex hospices, we have committed to develop a Sussex Hospice Alliance. This will enable us to work together with one voice in partnership with the NHS and other partners across the health and care system to improve the quality and outcomes for the population of Sussex at the end-of-life.
Our continued partnership with our neighbouring hospice, St Michael’s, has further evolved to ensure we share resources and expertise to provide the best care, support and value for money.
Our patient and family feedback has again shown the high satisfaction with the quality and impact of our hospice services. We have continued with our commitment to quality improvement, implementing a model for improvement, innovating with a pilot of a virtual hospice, introducing rapid reviews of complex care and implementing a new electronic patient care record system.
Some content None of this would have been achievable without the skill and compassion of our dedicated staff and volunteers. Equally, they could not do their great work without the support from across our communities. Thank you to everyone who has ensured St Wilfrid’s continues to provide support and make a difference to people at the end of life.
Colin Twomey Chief Executive Officer
Shaun O’Leary Chair of the Board of Trustees
The care is excellent. They have provided a lot of support and I am eternally grateful Patient
Our Mission
Enabling people to live well at end of life
Our Vision
A community where people talk openly about dying, live well until the end of their life and where nobody dies alone, afraid or in pain
Our Values
Compassionate
We care about each other. We will go out of our way to recognise when someone needs our help or support and will respond to the very best of our ability.
Professional
We use our knowledge and skills individually and collectively to deliver the best service possible to those we support. We proactively seek to improve and enhance our skills, taking pride in developing ourselves and others.
Progressive
We’re forward looking and thinking. We pursue opportunities to improve and find better ways of doing things through new ideas and approaches.
Respectful
We treat people with dignity and respect, always acknowledging and respecting people’s individuality. What makes us different makes us better.
What we do
St Wilfrid’s Hospice is a local registered charity, providing high-quality whole-person care for people with any life-limiting illness towards the end of their lives. We support the physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual and practical needs of our patients. We also support their families and carers. This is in the hospice building, in patients’ own homes and in local care homes.
Where we are
Our catchment area covers a population of 245,000 people in Eastbourne, Seaford, Pevensey, Hailsham, Heathfield and Uckfield and all points in between.
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Your support means that people like Philip can spend their final days surrounded by love
‘St Wilfrid’s gave me the support and comfort to carry on’
Helen Foster’s husband, Philip, was cared for by St Wilfrid’s Hospice before he died of a brain tumour aged just 47-years-old. Here, Helen talks about the care Philip received from us, both at home and in the hospice.
“I met Philip online in July 2012, and when we saw each other face-to-face it was love at first sight. We had our son, Louie, 13 months after meeting, got married in 2015 and had Frankie two years later.
Philip had been in remission from a frontal lobe brain tumour for nine years when we received the harrowing news in the spring of 2020 that, after a routine MRI, they had found a shadow. We were told it was probably nothing to worry about and it was seemingly benign.
But when we received an appointment at the Macmillan Cancer Centre in
London, we knew it was bad. It was an extremely rare osteosarcoma of the
Helen with Phillip and their children
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skull, thought to have been a result of the radiotherapy treatment all those years ago. Philip fought, he was an absolute trooper, but in the spring of 2021 we were told it was terminal. Our lives fell apart.
In the August of that year, after experiencing multiple mini strokes, Philip had a brain haemorrhage at home. That was the first time I spoke – in a panic – to the amazing Nurse Line at St Wilfrid’s Hospice, who reassured me to be calm and call emergency services. Philip went to Eastbourne District General Hospital, where they told me there was nothing they could do.
However, doctors at the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton did manage to successfully operate. He completed some more things on his bucket list and went to his beloved Old Trafford. We used to joke that he was like a cat with nine lives.
Sadly, in a very short space of time, Philip deteriorated. We had multiple appointments at St Wilfrid’s and were under the watchful care of the lovely Dr Lucy and Dr David, who visited us at home. I was still able to care for Philip myself with the help of occupational therapists and physiotherapists from St Wilfrid’s.
I was then assisted by their Care at Home Team, who were amazing. After feeling like I was falling apart mentally, they provided me with the support and comfort to carry on.
Philip was eventually admitted into the hospice Inpatient Unit three days before Christmas. The care and love he received there is unfathomable.
We managed to spend Christmas with Philip, and the children opened their presents around a lovely tree in his room. Nothing was too much trouble. I even managed to spend my last night by his side on Valentine’s Day.
The nurses and the team all became very fond of him, and him of them. His constant positive attitude was magnified by the people caring for him. Philip died peacefully on 19th February 2022 with all his family by his side. Our lives would never be the same again.
The months that followed were hard. But again, the children and I have received amazing care from the hospice, in the form of counselling for all of us. The children have had to live life without Daddy, and myself without my soulmate and best friend.
However, with the support of the hospice this has been made a little less painful, and we are slowly rebuilding our lives without our lovely Philip.”
We rely on your donations to offer our services free of charge to patients like Phillip and their families and carers.
If you would like to donate to St Wilfrid’s Hospice please visit stwhospice.org/donate
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Feedback means so much and helps us to work out how to improve our services for the future.
You told us
IPOS
Integrated Palliative Outcome Scale (known as IPOS) is one of a suite of measures we use at the hospice. It assesses 17 areas: physical, psychosocial, social and spiritual; the diagram shows the key five.
IPOS captures the patient’s main concerns, other symptoms they are experiencing and whether they have any other unmet needs such as practical issues or wanting more information. Scores are taken (from 0 to 4) and reassessed at a later date with the hope that the scores have reduced, indicating an improvement.
2023-24 avg earliest
2023-24 avg latest scores
Comparison based on between 178 records in 20232024 where an initial assessment score existed followed by at least one later assessment.
St Wilfrid’s VOICES is a survey adapted from a national tool from the Office of National Statistics. The survey is sent out to bereaved family members and carers and their comments and opinions are of great value. The St Wilfrid’s VOICES Survey 2023-2024 achieved a response rate of 32%.
91% of respondents felt the care they received on the Inpatient Unit was outstanding or excellent.
83% felt that they got as much advice and support from the Community Team as they needed when caring for a relative or friend.
96% of respondents said they were extremely likely to recommend St Wilfrid’s Hospice to friends and family.
At peace Information
I feel at peace. I am very grateful for all they have done for me Patient
The staff and volunteers at the hospice are a huge part of the St Wilfrid’s story and are at the heart of everything we do.
Our people
In 2023-24, St Wilfrid’s employed 242 staff and there were more than 525 volunteers supporting our work in over 51 roles.
11 Trustees guide the hospice’s ambitions, helping us to provide the best care.
Find out more about our trustees and Leadership Team at stwhospice.org/about-us
Your support makes all the difference!
The stats that matter
Did you know?
Every £1 spent on fundraising raised £2.87
£2,514,000 was left through gifts in wills
£299,000 largest legacy
£343,118 donated in memory
7,647 players in the Local Hospice Lottery
£19,160 was won in prizes
12,089 facebook followers
8,784 hours were given by 107 IPU Host volunteers covering 1,098 breakfast, lunch and dinner times
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Welcome Point volunteers spent 3,294 hours welcoming patients and an array of visitors to the hospice
288 volunteers helped support our eleven shops and the Moy Avenue Donation Centre
In 2023-2024 we supported 2,358 patients and family members. 1,573 of these were patients.
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Living Well
The Living Well Service provides group support, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and complementary therapy to patients and their families and carers.
713 patients
5,798 contacts
24/7
Care at Home Team
The team delivers personal care to patients at home to enable them to remain in familiar and comforting surroundings.
8,596 visits made 187 patients
Nurse Line
A telephone advice and support line for patients, family members, carers and healthcare professionals.
13,718 initial contacts
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The Inpatient Unit
Our spacious en-suite inpatient rooms all look out onto the courtyard or orchard gardens.
Patients are admitted for short stays and, while some will die in the hospice, many are discharged having had their symptoms brought under control .
183 patients
198 admissions
22 The average number of days a patient stayed
Community Team
A range of healthcare professionals support patients and their families at home and in local care homes. They liaise closely with Primary Care Services such as the patient’s GP and District Nurses.
5,406 face-to-face contacts
1,099 Patients supported
Patient and Family Support
Counsellors and Social Workers support patients and their family members through unfamiliar circumstances, thoughts and emotions. The team also offers spiritual support to people of all faiths and none.
916 individuals supported across all services
3,354 counselling support sessions
103 young people received counselling sessions via the Seahorse Project
The priorities from last year and the ones we have planned for the coming year
Reflecting back...
Last year we...
• Worked in partnership with two neighbouring hospices to progress plans to establish a shared 24/7 helpline.
• Undertook a pilot of a virtual hospice approach to improve care for people at home.
• Started a project to improve our approaches in diversity, equity and inclusion to improve future access for people to hospice enabled care.
• Established a Head of Data Insight role across Sussex hospices to improve our ability to show our impact.
• Introduced the model for improvement method as a way to demonstrate quality.
• Moved forward with developing a new Sussex Hospice Alliance to work in partnership with NHS and others.
• Introduced more wellbeing resources for our workforce and new training opportunities.
• Installed solar panels.
• Used new AI software to improve our fundraising performance and eCommerce.
...looking forward
Priorities for the year to come:
• Improve our collection of demographic information about our patients so we can understand who we are not accessible to.
• Improve hospice support for people in care homes.
• Strengthen our ability to support people in financial difficulties through dedicated roles.
• Embed a new approach to career development for our staff.
• Establish a new Sussex Hospice Alliance to ensure the best outcomes for patients and
build financial resilience and sustainability.
• Grow our income through new approaches to fundraising and donor development.
• Agree a digital strategy to ensure we are best placed to use the best digital approaches across our hospice services for the best outcomes in patient care.
• Build our compassionate communities work to begin to widen our impact and help more people to live well at the end of life.
Where the money comes from...
...and where it goes
The
Gifts in Wills for 2023-24
We are always amazed by the generous legacy gifts left to us by so many kind supporters. Donations like these really help us to plan better care for our patients, essentially giving back to the future.
There were 82 legacy gifts left to the hospice last year
74 of these totalled £1,274,000
8 totalled £1,240,000
The largest gift was £299,000
The smallest gift was £75
A total of £2,514,000 was left to us in wills
For legacy gifts under £100,000 the average gift was £17,220
We are very grateful for all these gifts, which ensure that we can care for future hospice patients.
If you want to find out more about leaving a legacy in your will to St Wilfrid’s Hospice, please contact Rozelyn Bristowe on 01323 434214 or at rozelyn.bristowe@stwhospice.org .
The year in pictures
2023-2024 highlights
1. A team of 19 intrepid explorers hiked the last 100km of the Camino de Santiago in April 2023, raising over £60,000.
2. In May 2023 we marked the Coronation of HM King Charles and Queen Camilla with a special tea party for volunteers.
3. 288 Solar Panels were installed on the roof of the hospice in June 2023. We hope that, over the lifetime of the solar panels, they will give a saving on our energy bills of £483,584.
4. Virtual Reality was introduced to the hospice in August 2023 with the arrival of two VR headsets.
5. In October 2023 Art on a Postcard auctioned over 200 postcard-sized artworks from famous artists, raising £52,000 for the hospice.
6. We launched a six-month pilot for a Virtual Hospice in October 2023. The aim was to create an alternative to Inpatient admission and enhance patient choice and individualised care. The results are being assessed before the next steps are decided.
7. Our new shop opened in Polegate in November 2023, selling a range of clothes, homewares, toys and bric-a-brac.
8. In November 2023 we celebrated 10 years at our hospice on Broadwater Way.
9. We held our first Intimacy and Hospice Care Week in February 2024, opening up conversations about a person’s need for intimacy and closeness during illness.
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How could you help?
Host or join an event
From bake sales and raffles to fun runs and skydives, support from our community makes a huge difference. Visit stwhospice.org/events to sign up to an upcoming event or phone 01323 434241 to discuss your fundraising idea with our team.
Play the lottery
From just £1 a week, you’ll be in with a chance of winning £2,000 every single week along with 200 other cash prizes and a rollover that reaches up to £25,000! Run by the Local Hospice Lottery, you can find out more at stwhospice.org/lottery or call 0800 316 0645.
Volunteer with us
We’re always looking to welcome new faces to our amazing team. If you have some time to spare and would like to make a difference
in your local community, we would love to hear from you. Visit stwhospice.org/volunteering or contact vsteam@stwhospice.org .
Leave us a gift in your will
Our Make a Will Month takes place in September each year. Leaving a gift in your will – whether a percentage of your estate or a fixed sum – is a wonderful way to support future generations.
Find out more on page 19.
Make a donation
It costs over £21,000 a day to ensure we’re there for those who need us. Support St Wilfrid’s with a regular gift, a one-off donation or by giving in memory of a loved one. If you can Gift Aid your donation, we are able to claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated at no cost to you. Visit stwhospice.org/donate for further details.
Thanks to everyone who organised [Rainbow Run] as well as those who volunteered and those who ran and supported. We had a wonderful day and will be back next year
Event participant
