St Elizabeth Hospice launches £3m community appeal to help people die at home

In Ipswich and East Suffolk only 1% of people would like to die in hospital, but our local CCG reports that more than 40% die in hospital. This is the motivation behind St Elizabeth Hospice’s ‘No Place Like Home’ campaign to help people at the end of their life, to get out of hospital to their preferred place of death be that a care home, hospice or their own home.

St Elizabeth Hospice is working with the East Suffolk End of Life Programme Board to transform the way in which end of life care is delivered in the area. As well as offering increased levels of care from its own team, the hospice will act as a care coordinating hub, bringing together organisations caring for those at the end of life to make sure patients are cared for by exactly the right person at the right time.

The hospice already acts as a central point of access to information, care and round the clock support and advice for many people and care organisations but this project provides the opportunity for that to be expanded to encompass all who need it.

Mark Millar, St Elizabeth Hospice’s CEO (pictured), explains: “Too many people who don’t want to or need to die in hospital in Suffolk currently do. We are determined to help improve this situation. The hospice has already strengthened our Community Team and through this appeal we will continue to do so.

We have received an initial grant of £400k from the Programme Board to kick start the ‘No Place Like Home’ initiative but this is a small fraction of what it is going to cost to deliver the full project. We estimate to deliver patients choice, in addition to statutory funding, St Elizabeth Hospice will need to raise an additional £3m over the next three years to be able to sustain the project. The initial aim, working with the hospital, is to identify the people who are at end of life who don’t want to be there and quickly get them to where they want to be. ”

Sarah Godfrey, Head of St Elizabeth Hospice’s Community Team added: “Not many people realise that around 70% of the care the hospice provides is in the community. Our team of clinical nurse specialists, community healthcare assistants and volunteers work in people’s homes to manage the symptoms of our patient’s illnesses and look after their wider care needs. They are our own hospice staff, employed by St Elizabeth Hospice, and are not Macmillan nurses, as some people may think. Macmillan does not provide a community nursing service in our area as the hospice were asked to take over that responsibility from them some years ago. Supporting the ‘No Place like Home’ appeal will enable us to help more people access the care and support they need and deserve in the place that they want it.”

To support to the ‘No Place Like Home‘ appeal visit www.stelizabethhospice.org.uk/noplacelikehome17