About Us
Introduction
Who are we?
In 1981, a few friends met in the Otham village hall to discuss the possible need for a local hospice. Due to their commitment and dedication, we opened the doors of the Heart of Kent Hospice in 1991. We are a charity which provides specialist care to the people of Maidstone and the surrounding local communities. At any one time we support up to 280 patients, plus their families and carers.
As a charity, the services we offer are free of charge. It currently costs £2.5m per year to provide our care. Of this, we have to raise £1.8m from the community that we serve.
What do we do?
We are a team of specialists offering skilled care, comfort, compassion and hope to people facing the challenge of life threatening illness.
We work in partnership with those who we support, planning individual care and encouraging feedback. We know that this is highly appreciated by those who use our services.
How do we do it?
We aim to do this by providing high quality specialist care to relieve symptoms and provide the best quality of life (whatever the diagnosis or illness) for our patients, their families and their carers.
At the Heart Of Kent Hospice we can provide in-patient care for up to 12 people at any one time. Our Community Team provides much needed support and advice to patients in their homes, whilst others benefit from our Day Therapy service. We also have a Family Services team who can help people talk through their problems in a safe and confidential way. A range of complementary therapies is also available.
Our Training and Education department offers courses to a wide range of healthcare professionals in our community to ensure that as many people as possible are able to benefit from our expertise. This enables more people to have greater choice about where they are cared for.
What is our biggest challenge?
We need our local community to understand fully what we offer and actively support us in what we do. This means we need more people to give their time and money, as only then will we be able to provide the care to all those who need it.
