St Margarets Hospice
St Margaret’s Hospice is Somerset’s only adult hospice. This charity has, for over 34 years, been at the heart of Somerset’s community providing free, specialist end-of-life care to individuals and their families who are facing the challenge of a life limiting illness.
Through their medical expertise, nursing skills and specialist support services, they provide physical, emotional, social and spiritual care to over 3200 patients and their families in the charity's two inpatient units and in people’s homes and in other care settings, enabling people to receive the best the possible care when they need it , where they need it. St Margaret's don’t just care for cancer patients, they also care and support people with motor-neurone disease, cardiac failure, renal failure, chronic respiratory disease and other life limiting conditions.
Everyone at St Margaret’s has just one goal – to bring peace, comfort and dignity to every patient they see, every day of the year, 24 hours a day. Put simply, they are passionate about helping to make every day count for the patients and their families for whatever time they have left. They don’t just care for patients and their families in their last few days of life, they care for some patients for months, even years.
“Dad wanted his last days on this earth to be with his wife… he wanted to be at home with the sun shining through his bedroom window. St Margaret’s Hospice made that possible with the care at home you gave him… the palliative care that was tailored, discreet and kind; a care that didn’t just help the patient but helped the family.”
St Margaret's must raise £10 million a year to provide their care – only a third of this comes from the NHS, which means they rely on the community to fund the rest and this figure is only going to rise. Currently, there are approximately 5,000 people a year in Somerset who suffer from an incurable illness and St Margaret’s can only reach 3,200. Estimates are that by 2030, 17,000 people a year will need our care.
Split over their two locations in Taunton and Yeovil, St Margaret's Hospice is providing necessary care to the elder generation of the community and needs your help to continue this. If you would like to donate directly to them visit their website here and if you are a local resident who can contribute by volunteering, then contact them here.