Royal visit to the Hospice
9 May, 2013
HRH The Countess of Wessex GCVO met with patients, staff and volunteers when she visited Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice on Thursday 9th May.
The Hospice is celebrating the launch of its expanded Hospice Care at Home and community services, and the visit of The Countess of Wessex highlighted the wide range of care and support on offer to those affected by terminal illness throughout West Surrey and North East Hampshire.
The Countess of Wessex was met by Dame Sarah Goad, Lord Lieutenant of Surrey; Mr David Munro, Vice Chairman of Surrey County Council; Cllr Patricia Ellis, Deputy Mayor Waverley; Cllr Stephen Hill, Mayor of Farnham; Nigel Penny, Chairman of Trustees and Ms Sarah Brocklebank, Chief Executive of Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice.
Ms Brocklebank introduced The Countess of Wessex to Hospice staff and some of the 140 patients, carers and relatives the Hospice cares for and supports every single day.
Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice offers support for those who have been given the worst possible news. It cares for patients and families at the Hospice and is now able to care for more people in their own homes, where they want to be at the end of their lives.
Sarah Brocklebank said: “We are excited at this significant development of the Hospice’s services. We know that our existing small Hospice Care at Home team has been so successful and popular with patients, families and healthcare professionals, but we have not been able to meet the growing demand.”
“By investing our own charitable funds in this vitally important service, we will make a very real difference to more local people, offering meaningful care at a hugely challenging and distressing time of their lives, but of course, we rely heavily on the generosity of our local community to be able to provide this care.
“Only 12% of our costs are covered by the NHS, and just this one part of our care will cost £325,000 this year, so we are taking this opportunity to launch our “Patients at Home” Appeal. With posters in our 14 shops across our catchment area, a mailshot and door-drop highlighting that our care extends to residents across a wide area from Camberley to Haslemere and Guildford to Fleet, we hope more people will recognise the important work we do and help us raise these important funds. It would be great if we could raise enough money to pay for the Hospice Care at Home service this year and provide a strong financial base to continue it in future years.”
To commemorate the visit, The Countess of Wessex unveiled a plaque and was presented with a gift of “home” items by Paul Shrubb, a patient of the Hospice.
Following the visit, Ms Brocklebank said: “It has been a fantastic day for us and we are thrilled to have had the opportunity to launch and celebrate this expanded service with such a special visit. As the only adult hospice serving nearly 600,000 residents, our care is really important to the 140 people we support each day, so I’d like to say a huge thanks to all our staff, volunteers and supporters for all they do for the Hospice.”
