North Northumbrian Hospice Care

Charity Details

History and Activities

Established in 1995, HospiceCare North Northumberland provides palliative and end of life care to people who have life-limiting illnesses. It operates from two sites; one in Alnwick and the other in Berwick-Upon-Tweed. However, the majority of the charities provision centres around the ‘Hospice at Home’ service which takes care and support directly into patients homes. HospiceCare provides support to both patients and their family/carers. Another valued service is facilitating end-of-life care. This supports the patients' rapid discharge from hospital, allowing them to spend time in the comfort of their homes.

Beyond patient care, HospiceCare is developing services to tackle mental health issues. The charity has had a particular power impact in providing new services for families with dementia. With funding support of the Henfrey Charitable Trust and the Garfield Weston Foundation, the hospice was able to employ two specialist mental health nurses. In partnership with Dementia UK, HospiceCare was able to employ the North East’s first ‘Admiral’ nurse. Admiral Nurses are highly skilled mental health professionals specialised in dementia care.

To support its charitable work the charity operates 3 charity shops based in Amble, Berwick and Wooler which are run by some of the charity's 100 plus volunteers. These shops are vital to supporting the charity and have been highly successful. In 2016/17 the shops reported an income of 40% higher than the previous year for a total of £108,614. This figure represents both community support of HospiceCare and 1/5 of the charities total income.

In 2016/7 the charity received income from the NHS to support palliative care (£39,815) and personal health (£41,252), but this amounts to only 7% of gross income.  The overwhelming majority of HospiceCare’s income is derived from philanthropy. This includes £254,325 in donations and £123,360 in grants. In 2016/7 the largest providers of grant income were the HenFrey Charitable Trust (£25,000), the Garfield Weston Foundation (£20,000) and the Cowen Charitable Trust (£20,000).

Vital Statistics (year to 31/03/2017)

Website

http://www.hospicecare-nn.org.uk

References