St Catherine’s Hospice: Words from Giles Tomsett, Chief Executive

Hospice vows to support community despite pandemic challenges

St Catherine’s Hospice has continued to provide its expert endof-life care and support to local people throughout the pandemic. Here, Giles Tomsett, St Catherine’s Chief Executive, shares an update.

“Caring for our community – your family, friends and neighbours, isn’t just a job for us, it’s ingrained.

“I want to sincerely thank everyone who has supported us throughout the pandemic. Your amazing support has kept us going through some of the toughest days in our nearly 40year history, but sadly, the impact of COVID-19 continues across our charity.

“You’ll likely already be aware that our fundraising income has been significantly affected by this pandemic, and that last year we had to make some tough changes to reduce costs.

“Even with those changes and savings, we are now only operating twelve beds at our hospice in Malthouse Road. This allows us to offer people the safest possible care, and to continue our robust infection control measures as our twelve beds are in single rooms. It also helps us to save money at a time when our income has been severely affected. Once our operating finances are more buoyant, we can scale back up as we move into our new hospice home at Pease Pottage.

“Although we’re currently offering less hospice beds, we’re still offering our expert care and support to everyone who needs us. Most people we care for want to die at home, in the comfort and familiarity of their own surroundings. To help people achieve this wish, we will be refocusing our community facing teams to provide as much hospice support at home as we can, and to align ourselves to better support the work that our local healthcare systems and local care homes are doing to care for people with frailty. “The people we help are everything to us, and their needs are at the heart of every decision we make. I want to reassure you that as we work through these changes, we will continue to deliver the best possible end-of-life care and support to our community, who deserve nothing less. “Although we’re currently having to scale down our work, our ambition to help more people facing death and bereavement hasn’t changed. Nor has our intention to build a new hospice at Pease Pottage to provide vital end-of-life care for generations to come.

“As we face the hurdles ahead, we need your support more than ever. We need you to keep the fires burning, and to help us keep bringing money in.

“Together, we can create a future where no one in our community faces death and loss frightened or alone. And we can emerge stronger from this pandemic, ready to deliver more care from a new, bigger hospice at Pease Pottage. Thank you for standing beside us.”

To donate to support your local hospice please visit: www.stch.org.uk/donate or call the Fundraising Team on (01293) 447361. Laura Mitchell, St Catherine’s Hospice

Photo: Giles Tomsett, Chief Executive, St Catherine’s Hospice

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