Ruth Freeman, Chief Executive of The Myton Hospices, joined Hospice UK at the House of Lords on Monday 12th October to discuss the challenges facing hospice care across the UK, including funding and workforce pressures.
The panel discussion was hosted by the Rt Hon Lord Howard of Lympne CH KC and provided an opportunity to discuss the challenges facing hospices across the UK, including funding and workforce pressures. The audience included supporters and ambassadors of the hospice movement.
Ruth was joined on the panel by Rachael Black, Chief Executive of St Joseph’s Hospice in Hackney, Paul Jennings, Chair of Hospice UK, and Toby Porter, Chief Executive of Hospice UK.
The discussion provided an opportunity to highlight the growing challenges facing hospices, which rely on a combination of NHS funding and charitable support to provide specialist palliative and end of life care to patients and their families.
Ruth Freeman said:
“During the discussion, we were asked why hospices are such warm and welcoming places, often filled with joy and laughter, even during some of the most difficult times in people’s lives. For me, it comes down to the love and kindness at the heart of hospice care – the love between patients and their families and friends, and the kindness shown by our staff to the people they care for and to each other.
“In saying this out loud, I had an overwhelming feeling of pride to be part of our hospice and gratitude to all of our wonderful staff, volunteers, donors and supporters who make what we do possible.”
The event was an opportunity to represent The Myton Hospices alongside other organisations working to ensure people living with life-limiting illnesses receive the care they need and deserve, while highlighting the importance of addressing the financial pressures facing the hospice sector.
As a charity, The Myton Hospices relies on the generosity of its local community to fund the majority of its care. With demand for specialist palliative and end of life care continuing to grow, Myton has launched its Bed Appeal to raise £327,000 to help open and fund three more hospice beds for 12 months. The appeal aims to help more people across Coventry and Warwickshire access the expert, compassionate care they need when they need it most.
Ruth thanked Hospice UK for the opportunity to take part in the discussion and represent Myton and other hospices facing similar challenges at the event.
To find out more about how you can support The Myton Hospices, please visit www.mytonhospice.org/beds
——————
At The Myton Hospices we believe that everyone matters for every single moment of their life; we focus on enhancing life when cure is no longer an option. We are not just about end of life care, we support patients and their loved ones right from the moment they are diagnosed.
We have three hospices in Coventry, Rugby and Warwick, and care for people aged 18+ living with a wide range of life-limiting illnesses including Respiratory, Heart & Neurological conditions, Cancer and Organ failure.
We are the only hospice in Coventry and Warwickshire providing specialist palliative and end of life care, and the only local hospice with inpatient beds.
At The Myton Hospices, we have 36 beds, but we can currently only afford to keep 25 open. This means people are dying while waiting for the specialist palliative and end of life care they need, while beds remain closed because there isn’t enough funding to open them.
It costs over £15 million every year to provide our services free of charge to our patients and their loved ones. As a charity, with less than 20% of our funding coming from the NHS, we must raise more than £12 million this year. We rely on donations and support from our local communities.
We have launched our Bed Appeal to raise £327,000 which could fund three more Myton Beds for 12 months, so more local people and their families can receive the specialist hospice care they need. Find out more at www.mytonhospice.org/beds
===============
ehospice is proud to help promote individual, local, national and international voices in Hospice & Palliative Care
We are on target to have over One Million page views this year.
To stay in touch with colleagues and news around the world subscribe to our free Newsletter
Leave a Reply