St Mary’s Hospice is launching new work aimed at opening the doors to hospice care wider than ever before.
The Compassionate Communities project has been designed following local and national research showing that people in under-represented groups still find it difficult to access hospice care. This might mean they are missing out on the first-class care provided free-of-charge to hundreds of patients across South Lakes and Furness.
St Mary’s Chief Executive, Val Stangoe, explained: “We spoke with other charities across the patch who kindly told us, that although our care is considered great quality by those who access it, they worry that many people still think it isn’t for them.
“That might be because they think it is only for people with certain illnesses, or for people who can afford to pay for it, or for people really close to death.
“We need to speak the message that these assumptions aren’t correct. Our services have always been — and will always be — completely free of charge and open to every single person in our catchment area who has an illness that can’t be cured, a family member in that situation, or who has suffered from the loss of someone.
“Our partners’ feedback helped us realise it was time to look differently at the way we work, so we can reach more people.
“Everyone, no matter their background, deserves the same care.
“One local charity leader told us: ‘It’s heartbreaking to see how many people there are, who have been ignored for so long, excluded so many times, that they just don’t believe services are meant for them’
“Compassionate Communities is about us saying loudly ‘yes, our services ARE for you, and if you need us to hold your hand to access them, here we are’.”
To make this happen Trustees at St Mary’s have approved new funding to allow recruitment to three new posts.
The first post is for a new manager for the Living Well Centre in Duke Street. This role will be responsible for the use of the building and will manage our Compassionate Communities Service — merging the existing Family and Bereavement Support and Living-Well teams under that new umbrella. This person’s role will also be to strengthen the links with other local charities, to ensure the people using those charities are supported to get access to hospice services around early non-curative illness, end-of-life and bereavement.
The second post will coordinate and deliver an education programme for the public, to help St Mary’s work with the others to build a more compassionate, understanding community. This will include training for those family members supporting someone at the end of life, bereavement support for third sector staff and communities and holding open conversations about death and dying, for people of all ages.
Val added: “For both of the roles above we are looking for people with a background in community development and experience of disadvantaged and excluded communities. You’ll understand how to have conversations about difficult topics and be committed to fairness and kindness.”
St Mary’s is also recruiting to a new social work post with a specific task as an end-of-life advocate — focusing on people from under-represented groups, including people living in poverty, the homeless, and groups who support those individuals. Through this role they aim to make hospice care easier to reach for everyone who needs it.
If you are interested in any of these roles, please contact Val Stangoe at St Mary’s Hospice for an initial conversation. Val can be contacted at val.stangoe@stmaryshospice.org.uk or by calling 01229 580305