A group of Essex hospices has been shortlisted for a top healthcare award for supporting people nearing the end of their lives to choose where they are cared for.
Farleigh Hospice, Havens Hospices and St Luke’s Hospice, working together as the Hospice Collaborative Partnership, have been recognised in the ‘Best Not-for-Profit Working in Partnership with the NHS’ category at the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Partnership Awards.
Now in its eighth year, the HSJ Partnership Awards acknowledge positive working relationships between the NHS and organisations like hospices and outstanding dedication to improving healthcare and effective collaboration.
The hospices have been shortlisted from hundreds of other organisations and projects for their Hospice Rapid Access Service with the NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board.
The Hospice Rapid Access Service is a 24-hour hospice-inspired care pathway for adults across Mid and South Essex, providing care in a hospice, care home or the community. The initiative supports the NHS’s Long-Term Plan to improve personalised palliative and end-of-life care and reduce health inequalities. It also aims to ease demand on health and social care systems, promote choice and help patients to achieve their preferred place of care and death, improve quality of life, reduce anxiety for families, and reduce hospital admissions and stays.
In its first year, the Hospice Rapid Access Service cared for more than 1,100 patients, delivering 33,376 nights of care preventing hospital admission or intervention, equating to 91 hospital beds per day.
In the community, the teams delivered 216,954 hours of care for patients in their own homes easing pressure on NHS colleagues and facilities.
The service delivers rapid and appropriate care; achieving this on average in three days from the original referral to the Hospice Rapid Access Teams.
Steve Smith, CEO of Havens Hospices, says, “On behalf of the Hospice Collaborative Partnership, we are delighted to be shortlisted at the HSJ Partnership Awards 2025. It will be a huge boost for our dedicated and hard-working teams across all three hospices, focusing on providing personalised care for even more people towards the end of their lives.
“It’s well known within our sector that the HSJ awards programme is a high profile and hugely respected platform to showcase the work and achievements of the many healthcare professionals who enter, and we’re delighted to have been recognised on this prestigious shortlist for a 2025 HSJ Partnership Award. We hope our entry might also inspire other colleagues in the hospice sector to consider submitting their projects, too.”
Dr Matthew Sweeting, Executive Medical Director for NHS Mid and South Essex said:
“Helping more patients achieve their preferred place of care and death improves the quality of life and reduces anxiety for families.
“The work and commitment of the three hospices in mobilising this innovative service model for people who are rapidly deteriorating has been exceptional.
“The Hospice Rapid Access service involves people in their care decisions and enables them to be cared for in their preferred place. This builds on our commitment to deliver more personalised and holistic care, and get end of life care right for the communities we serve.”
The selected winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Evolution London on 20th March 2025.
The complete list of nominees for the 2025 HSJ Partnership Awards can be found at https://partnership.hsj.co.uk/finalists-2025.
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About Farleigh Hospice
Farleigh Hospice provides care, free of charge, to people affected by life-limiting illnesses and bereavement across mid Essex.
We tailor our hospice care and support to meet the needs of each of our patients, to help them live as well as possible to the end of their life. Whether they need specialist care to manage complex needs, or therapeutic support to improve the quality of their life, we are here to provide comfort and care when they need us the most.
We are also here for anyone who needs support following a bereavement. Through our Bereavement Help Points in the local community and online resources, we help people dealing with the emotional and practical impact of bereavement. Further one-to-one
and group support is available, if needed, through the Circle service for adults and the Yo-Yo Project for children and young people (aged 4-18).
Farleigh Hospice is a charity and we could not be there for everyone who needs us without the kind support of our local community.
For more information, visit www.farleighhospice.org
About Havens Hospices
Havens Hospices is a charity that provides specialist care and support for people of all ages who are living with incurable conditions and their families. We work closely with the person and their health and social care professionals to ensure their care and support is the best it can possibly be, so everyone in our community can get the most from life, and make every day count.
Our specialist team offers a wide range of care and support options for patients and their loved ones, based on their needs and wishes. This can be in the comfort of their own home, in the hospices – Fair Havens for adults or Little Havens for children – or a combination.
Our care and support includes everyone, extending to partners, family and friends to make sure the right support is there for patients and the people who matter to them, where and when they need it.
This care is provided absolutely free of charge thanks to the kind donations from the community.
For more information, www.havenshospices.org.uk
About St Luke’s Hospice
St. Luke’s Hospice is a local charity providing compassionate care to people whose illnesses are no longer curable. We promote dignity in dying and empower people to make the choices they want from the moment they are diagnosed.
Our care considers people’s medical, spiritual and emotional needs, including support for loved ones and carers. Anyone living in Basildon and district can call on us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Working alongside healthcare professionals, our specialist services are available at the Hospice, out in the community or in a person’s own home.
We are a charity and the services we provide are free. We rely on voluntary income from local people to deliver the care they deserve.
For further information about St. Luke’s Hospice please contact our Marketing team on 01268 524973 or email pr@stlukeshospice.co.uk.
About the HSJ Awards
The HSJ Partnership Awards recognise the most effective collaborations with the NHS highlight the benefits which working with the private and third sectors can bring to patients and NHS organisations.
About HSJ
The Health Service Journal is the only title to cover all aspects of publicly funded healthcare, providing news, analysis, best practise information from some of the most powerful and respected figures in health. The HSJ audience is formed of healthcare leaders from both clinical and non-clinical backgrounds and both public and private sectors.
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