Since 1997, the National Gardens Scheme (NGS) has donated almost £900,000 to Help the Hospices, the leading charity supporting hospice care throughout the UK. This support has enabled hundreds of nurses, doctors and other vital hospice staff to learn new skills through the Help the Hospices Professional development grant programme. Last year alone, 250 hospice professionals were funded by NGS to attend courses and gain qualifications which will enhance their skills and abilities. In turn, this has made a vital contribution to the quality of care given to patients, as well as their friends and family.
Karl Benn, grants manager at Help the Hospices, comments: “With an ageing population and people living longer with diseases such as cancer, the demand for palliative care is always increasing. Keeping up with demand can mean that hospices find it difficult to fund essential training for staff, and Help the Hospices receives a large number of applications from hospice staff wanting to further their training and development. NGS enables us to help many more than we would otherwise be able to.”
The vast majority of hospices are independent local charities relying heavily on donations to carry out their vital work. Hospices aim to provide the best possible care for people living with and dying from a life-limiting or terminal illness. Care extends beyond the patient to supporting family and close friends. Services include pain control, symptom relief, skilled nursing care, counselling, complementary therapies, spiritual/religious support, creative activities, physiotherapy and bereavement support. Care is given free of charge and can be at home, in the hospice and in the community. Hospices look after people for days, months or years, according to their needs.
Individual hospices work with the NGS on a local level by contacting their NGS county organiser to see if there are opportunities to be supported by local garden openings. The openings can also make a lovely outing close to home for hospice patients, carers and staff.
Some hospice gardens have even made the coveted Yellow Book listings, and they open to the public as part of the scheme. This not only provides recognition of the quality of the gardens, but helps the hospice to raise local awareness of the quality and warmth of its care.
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Media Enquiries
Zoe Grumbridge
020 7520 8251 / z.grumbridge@helpthehospices.org.uk
Notes to editors
About Help the Hospices
Help the Hospices is the leading charity supporting hospice care throughout the UK. In particular we support our 213 hospice members in their vital work on the front line of caring for people who face the end of life.
The majority of hospice care is provided by our members – local charities rooted in the communities they serve. Hospices provide a wide range of care for people living with life-limiting and terminal illness and their families, from inpatient beds to day care and care for people in their own homes.
Health services are funded separately by the devolved government in each UK nation. In England the government contributes an average of 32% of running costs for adult hospices (predominantly through primary care trusts) and about 15% for children’s hospices – the rest has to be found by charitable fundraising (note: based on latest figures available). About 100,000 volunteers work in UK hospices, and hospices could not do the work they do without them.
www.helpthehospices.org.uk