Thanks to a generous donation of £25,000 from The Charles French Charitable Trust, St Clare Hospice in Hastingwood, Harlow, will soon be welcoming patients and family members to their newly equipped outpatient consulting rooms.
The rooms will be set up for both face-to-face and virtual appointments with the charity’s extensive community palliative care team.
Trevor Farrington, St Clare Nurse Consultant said, “Here at St Clare a large proportion of our care is carried out by nurses, therapists and doctors in people’s own homes. The new outpatient consulting rooms are an additional part of that personalised care, and will offer patients the choice in where they are seen, either at home, at the hospice itself or virtually via video links.
“We know that an ageing population in West Essex is leading to an increased demand for specialised palliative care in our area.
The over 85+ age group will double within the next 20 years.
We also know there is currently a lack of patient choice in making decisions about their care. The pandemic has demonstrated the need for virtual access to care alongside face-to-face appointments.
Our catchment area in West Essex and the East Herts borders is large, at over 400 square miles. Public transport is limited and many people to struggle to attend medical appointments.”
Trevor continued: “Thanks to the Charles French Charitable Trust, the refurbishment of our current space means we can offer our expert care to people living with complex needs who need help with distressing symptom control and pain management.
This project will allow us to deliver high quality rehabilitative care, ensuring patient choice, independence, and dignity, and so reduce the need for distressing emergency care interventions for people living with a life- limiting condition.”
Trevor added: “Alongside the appointments that are offered in the new consulting rooms will be an extension of the St Clare Hospice teaching provision.
Trevor added, “We are proud to be a teaching hospice and already run an extensive education programme, providing free of charge training and placements for health and social care professionals and students.
The new outpatient clinics will enable us to further enhance the skills and build the experience of clinical partners, as well as our own staff. “
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Photos –
Photo 1: Dr Joanna Thomas, Trustee of Charles S French Charitable Trust (left) with Trevor Farrington (right) at the official opening of the consulting rooms
Photo 2: One of the refurbished outpatient consulting rooms
St Clare Hospice is a charity providing specialist palliative care for people living with terminal or life- limiting illnesses across West Essex and East Herts border.
We care for patients and their families, providing physical, emotional, social, psychological and spiritual support, and ensuring they have timely access to skilled, compassionate and sensitive care in a place of their choice.
Our services are free of charge to those who need our care, but cost around £5 million a year to run. With limited NHS funding we need to fundraise the majority of this each year through donations and other voluntary sources.
The Charles S French Charitable Trust provides grants to support a wide range of charitable activities, primarily within Essex and North East London.
The Trust was established in 1959 by Charles French, Chairman of the former Buckhurst Hill civil engineering and construction company, W&C French.
Over the past 10 years the trust has donated over £2.4 million to a wide spectrum of charitable organisations and have a particular focus on supporting projects that benefit community development, education, medical care (including hospices and respite care), youth activities and children, the elderly and the disabled.
Local charities can apply for funding via the Trusts website http://www.csfct.org.uk
http://stclarehospice.org.uk /stclarehospice @hospicestclare 
@stclarehospice
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