Helen Hayes MP visits St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham

St Christopher’s was delighted to welcome Helen Hayes MP, Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, to its Sydenham site on Friday 28 November 2025.

Ms Hayes met with Steve Smith, Chief Executive at St Christopher’s, as well as clinical, community and leadership teams to discuss the hospice’s wide range of services. She shared insights into the experiences and challenges faced by her constituents.

During her visit, Ms Hayes met hospice staff, trainees and patients, hearing first-hand about their experiences of care and the hospice’s approach to holistic support, rehabilitation and bereavement services. Clinicians and the hospice’s community engagement team highlighted the quality of community outreach and the ways St Christopher’s enhances patient comfort and wellbeing.

Joy Ross, Lead Palliative Care Consultant, and Hermione Dawson, Clinical Team Lead and Ward Manager led an extended tour of the inpatient and clinical areas. This included conversations with a trainee doctor on placement, who explained the value of hospice experience in strengthening palliative care within primary care settings.

Helen Hayes MP says: “It was a real privilege to visit St Christopher’s and see first-hand the care and support provided to patients, families, and the wider community. The dedication of staff and volunteers is incredibly impressive. I was particularly interested in the hospice’s work with children, young people and schools, and the broader community engagement that helps tackle inequalities in end-of-life care.”

Mary Hodgson, Director of Inclusion and Social Innovation at St Christopher’s, spoke about the hospice’s community action and bereavement programmes, including work with local schools and families.

Last year, St Christopher’s provided bereavement support for more than 1000 adults and children across its services.

Steve Smith, Chief Executive at St Christopher’s says: “It was a pleasure to host Helen Hayes at our Sydenham site. Helen has long supported the work of the hospice, and we look forward a continued relationship. Helen’s visit offered an excellent opportunity to showcase both our achievements, and the ongoing funding challenges hospices face locally and nationally.”

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About St Christopher’s Hospice www.stchristophers.org.uk

• We were founded by Dame Cicely Saunders, who started the global hospice movement with the opening of St Christopher’s in 1967.
• We are a charity, and we provide care and services free of charge. Though we are partially funded by the NHS, the majority of our running costs are very generously met by public donations. Each year, we need to raise over £19million.
• Our vision is of a world in which all dying people and those close to them have access to equitable care and support, whenever and wherever they need it.
• Our goal is to help people live well until they die, and support those affected by the loss of a friend or relative.
• Each person is unique, so we ask ‘what matters to you?’ and then tailor our care to meet social, emotional and spiritual needs, as well as manage physical symptoms.
• Everyone should have access to the best care at the end of their lives and through a blend of expert practice, education and research we work with people across the world to improve and develop hospice care.
• We usually have over 1,800 people under our care at any one time, and last year we provided care and support to over 4,700 patients and 1,724 carers at home, out in the community and in the hospice.
• We supported 364 children through our Candle Child Bereavement Service.
• We supported 760 people with in-person or face-to-face adult bereavement sessions last year.
• We have over 500 dedicated staff and over 1,000 amazing volunteers.
• More than 6,000 attended an event hosted by our Centre for Awareness and Response to End of life from 76 different countries.
• You can support the hospice by donating, volunteering or shopping at one of our 23 local high street shops.
• You can find our website by searching “stchristophers.org.uk” online, and we are also on social media – search @StChrisHospice on Twitter and Instagram.