St Oswald’s Hospice

Charity Details
Full Name: St Oswald’s Hospice Ltd.
Field: Health
Founded: 1988
Headquarters: Newcastle, NE3 1EE
Charity No: 503386

History and Activities
Based in Newcastle, St Oswald’s provides specialist care for people living with incurable conditions. In 2016/7, the charity raised £7.5 million (including Gift Aid) through voluntary giving, the largest amount it has ever raised and well over 60% of the charity’s total income. In addition, St Oswald’s is supported by 1,100 whose contribution is valued at £1,029,000.

The charity operates 28 shops across the North East selling a range of second-hand goods, donated by the public, and staffed by volunteers. However, it is perhaps the quality and variety of fundraising events for which the charity is best known. In 2016, for example, in collaboration with the charity Wild about Art, it created a trail of 50 decorated sculptures based on the animated short film The Snowman and the Snowdog. When sold at a charity auction the Snowdogs raised £367,000 for the charity.  Another high profile event is the Pavel Cup, an annual charity football match in honour of the late Pavel Srnicek, the Newcastle United player who died in 2015.

Besides offering a wide range of palliative care services for children and adults, St Oswald’s campaigns about issues affecting people with life-limiting conditions. In 2012, the charity published Living longer than you thought I would. The report drew attention to the needs and aspirations of young people living with life-limiting conditions transitioning into adulthood. It was launched at a high profile event designed to attract the attention of government ministers and local members of parliament.

St Oswald’s is nationally renowned for its expertise in palliative care, providing medical speciality training, GP training and placements for fourth-year medical students.

In 2016/17, St Oswald’s, which is widely admired for its commitment to quality and innovation, admitted 209 adult in-patients, delivering 4,668 bed days of care, and provided a monthly average of 234 adult day hospice places, plus 114 outpatient appointments and 1,137 therapy sessions. There were 809 referrals to its lymphedema service, leading to 4,581 attendances and 4,144 intensive treatments. In addition, 59 children and young adults benefited from its children service, leading to 652 admissions occupying 1,936 bed days. These stark figures, however impressive, cannot really convey the good that this outstanding charity does, but this tribute from the young adult patient succeeds in doing that:

“I love having the chance to go out to different places with the young adult's group. It’s great to spend time with the other service users and also some of the staff who, over the years, have come to feel like best friends to me … I’ve benefitted massively from coming to St Oswald’s. I’ve become more sociable, I’m happier, I have more friends."

Vital Statistics (year to 31/03/2017)

Website
https://www.stoswaldsuk.org/

References