Hospice Care Week

On the wards, in the community, and in people’s homes across the UK, hospices look after people who need palliative and end of life care day in, day out.

They work tirelessly to make sure that those people are comfortable and can live well in the time they have left.

But hospice care isn’t only about managing pain and symptoms on a hospice ward. It is often about the things that make life better for the person and their family outside of the hospice’s building.

The things that someone might have once loved doing, but now struggles to because of their illness. Like going to their favourite café, seeing a sports match, taking a day trip to the beach, or even just getting out into their own garden. 

Each year, community nursing teams and volunteers help tens of thousands of people at the end of their lives live well in the community – letting many people be where they want to be, in the place they love most: their own home.

Governments across the UK are trying to provide more personalised care closer to home. This is something hospices do every day. 

In 2022-23, generalist palliative care nurses, healthcare assistants, social workers and carers from hospices made 910,000 home visits. And specialist palliative care doctors and nurses from hospices made 880,000 home visits*. Hundreds of thousands of visits from volunteers – like those in Compassionate Neighbours schemes – help hospice at home patients do the things they love most.

But whilst that helps to reduce the strain on our NHS, more than £1 billion of the £1.6 billion that hospices to fund their services each year comes from generous donors. From the people who organise bake sales, donate clothes to hospice charity shops, and take part in marathons, to those playing hospices’ lotteries, leaving gifts in their will and giving whatever they can to support the hospice.

So that’s why, this Hospice Care Week, we’re celebrating all the things that hospices do to make people’s live better in their own homes, and the hospice staff and volunteers who do them – to help raise awareness that these services should be properly funded.

Because hospice care is more than you think.

*Hospice UK Hospice Activity Data Survey, UK, 2022-23

For one week in October, Hospice Care Week shines a spotlight on our brilliant hospices, and their amazing staff. We’ll do this through telling their stories, hearing their voices, campaigning to policymakers, and harnessing the collective power of the hospice sector – that includes hospice supporters like you.

But it’s also an opportunity to speak up about the injustices they face, and make change.

We know local communities do incredible things to support their hospices – from donating to shops, to running marathons. But hospices need more support from governments to be able to play their full part in meeting the challenges we face in the UK’s healthcare system.

The Hospice Care Week theme in 2024 was all about hospice retail. 

Why?

Hospices are facing huge financial pressure. The modest amounts of funding they receive from governments are forcing them to cut their vital services.

All the UK’s hospices rely on fundraising to keep their doors open, and keep caring for people at the end of life. Bake sales, fun runs and second-hand clothes are funding vital services.

But those services shouldn’t have to depend on the generosity of the public.

Despite the incredible support of loyal local communities, hospices now find themselves in an impossible position.

Services are being cut. Inpatient beds are closing. Community services are being reduced.

Vital health and social care staff are being made redundant at a time when their work is needed more than ever.

That’s why, in 2024's Hospice Care Week, we uncovered the injustice that more money was being spent buying second hand goods in hospice shops than hospices received from the Government. 

Jeans, books and CDs are funding vital services. And while it is brilliant that hospice shops provide affordable everyday items for our communities, and raise millions every year, we don’t think it’s right that government funding is coming up short.

Anyone can get involved in Hospice Care Week.

There are some really easy ways to show your support for Hospice Care Week – in whatever way works for you.

You could:

• Connect with your local hospice, by popping into your local hospice shop and picking up a few items - you could even post photos of them on social media with the hashtag #HospiceCareWeek
• Read one or more of the Hospice Care Week retail stories, below, on our website
• Watch the Hospice Care Week film, above
• Share our film, or any of our stories, on your social media networks
• Talk to friends, family or colleagues about Hospice Care Week – maybe they’d be keen to support the campaign too!
• Consider making a donation to Hospice UK in support of Hospice Care Week: by donating, you’re helping fight for hospice care for all, for now and forever.

The more people we can get sharing our posts on social media, telling stories about amazing hospice shops, their staff and volunteers, or even putting a poster up at work, the more power we’ll have to stop the hospice funding crisis and get hospices fairer funding.

Resources

To help you, your hospice or organisation make the most of Hospice Care Week, you can download a suite of resources for events, fundraising, and social media assets. 

Planning on fundraising?

Do you want to fundraise for Hospice UK? You can! Discover how easy it can be to support hospices across the UK. 

Hospice care eases the physical and emotional pain of death and dying. It’s there when we need it the most – when our family and friends are near the end of life, when they need respite, when they need support.

Thousands of brilliant hospice staff provide exceptional care every single day.

But they should be properly funded by governments, not through hospices’ shops and fundraising.

That’s why, for Hospice Care Week, we helped support people around the UK in celebrating the hospice retail staff and volunteers who help fund our nation’s hospice care.