Hospice Care Week (8th – 15th October) – Dispelling Myths About Hospice Care

Woking Sam Beare Hospice - Dispelling Myths About Hospice Care
Woking & Sam Beare Weybridge Hospices

Hospice Care Week (8th – 15th October) – Dispelling Myths About Hospice Care

Launched today, on the first day of Hospice Care Week, Woking & Sam Beare Hospices is delighted to be able to share a new awareness campaign aimed at generating awareness about hospice care.

We took to the streets of Weybridge, Staines and Woking to ask members of the public what they knew. We got some very informative responses, which forms part of a film that went live today as we launch our campaign that is called ‘Did you know …’.

Jayne Cooper, CEO of Woking & Sam Beare Hospices, comments: “The face of hospice care has changed hugely over the last decade and we no longer just provide end-of-life care. With advancements in modern medicine, and because people are now living longer, we are seeing patients with increasingly different needs as the result of life-limiting illnesses. We do provide symptom management but our specialist care also caters for the emotional, psychological and general wellbeing of all of our patients, as well as supporting their carers and family members.

“I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that our care is just delivered in the hospice and it is only for those who are dying; when actually over 70% of our care is delivered in patients’ own homes across six Surrey Boroughs and our aim is to ensure they are supported to live life to the full.”

Woking & Sam Beare Hospices is a charity and is reliant on voluntary income.

Jayne adds: “We do get some government funding but like many charities we are reliant on voluntary income. All of our services are provided completely free of charge and so to enable us to continue to deliver our care to over 2,000 patients and their carers and families each year, we have to generate over £8 million each year from our fundraising activities and 18 retail outlets.”

“We have launched ‘Did you know …’ because we feel it is important that our community understand who we are and what we do in order to remove the stigma around hospice care and to start important conversations at, what can be, a very difficult time in peoples’ lives. But we also need to generate awareness of why we need the support of our community – without you we wouldn’t be able to continue to do what we do.”

For more information and to see what the people of Staines, Weybridge and Woking said when asked about hospice care you can view Woking & Sam Beare Hospices awareness video the video above and read more bout the following topics by clicking on the links;

 

About Woking & Sam Beare Hospices

  • We deliver 8,760 hours of care and support each year
  • Our team of specialist healthcare professionals care for our patients 24 hours per day, seven days per week
  • We care for approximately 2,000 patients each year
  • Over 70% of our care is delivered in patient homes or care or nursing homes
  • We receive referrals from Spelthorne, West Elmbridge, Woking, North Guildford, Surrey Heath and Runnymede but we can take patients outside of our region if required
  • We are specialists in care for patients with advanced progressive complex needs
  • We care for patients with, for example, advance dementia, heart disease, cancer, degenerative conditions and kidney disease
  • We care for adults of all ages [18 – 85+]
  • Our services are completely FREE of charge
  • We offer support services for carers and family members
  • We provide child and teenage bereavement counselling
  • Our Wellbeing Centre offers a range of treatments and therapies
  • We have 816 fabulous volunteers, without whom we could not deliver all that we do
  • We work closely with GPs and other clinicians to share knowledge and expertise
  • For every £5 of costs incurred we need to raise £4 from voluntary income
  • We need to raise in excess of £8 million a year to continue to deliver our services

Woking & Sam Beare Hospices is a patient-centred charity that delivers specialist palliative care to adult patients of all ages who have life-limiting and terminal illnesses. We cover the North West Surrey region, providing free of charge holistic care and support services for patients, their families and carers. Each year we care for over 2000 patients, their families and carers both in our hospice and their own homes (where over 70% of our care is delivered) enabling patient choice and the best quality of life.

We care for adults of all ages with a wide range of life limiting conditions such as cancer, heart disease, Motor Neurone Disease (MND), chronic pulmonary conditions, Parkinson’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). We help patients to manage their symptoms, which are often complex and why they require the expertise of our Clinical Nurse Specialists and specialist doctors.

Our services enable us to offer our patients holistic care, which means we offer practical, emotional, social and spiritual support as well as managing their medical needs. We offer day care services where patients receive assessments, treatments and therapies, as well as emotional and spiritual support. We also deliver counselling for our patients and their families, including child bereavement services and school support programmes.

We are a charity, and while we receive some government funding, around 75% of what we deliver is funded through our charity shops and fundraising activities. We could not do this without the generosity of all of our supporters, volunteers and the local community.

For more information about Woking & Sam Beare Hospices please see the Woking & Sam Beare Hospices page

Woking & Sam Beare Weybridge Hospices

Woking and Sam Beare Hospices are independent charities dedicated to providing specialised end of life care and support to local people, their families and carers. Registered charity number for Woking Hospice: 1082798. Registered charity number for Sam Beare Hospice: 1115439.

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Around 75% of what we deliver is funded through our charity shops and fundraising activities. We could not do this without the generosity of all of our supporters, volunteers and the local community.

Ewbanks Antiques Auctioneers & Valuers Send Woking Surrey
Oatlands Dental Lounge Weybridge Surrey Dentists
Mark Burgess Live Life Fitness
Surrey Electrical Solutions Limited
Weybridge Library - Surrey County Council Community Services