Introduction

The Heart of Kent Hospice opened in May 1991 as a result of the commitment and dedication of local people who set up the 'Wishing Well Appeal' in order to raise funds and build a hospice for local people. The Hospice is a charity which provides specialist palliative care to the people of Maidstone and the surrounding local communities.

As a charity, the services we offer are free of charge. It currently costs £3m per year to provide our care. Of this, we have to raise £2.2m ourselves from the community that we serve.

Who we are?

The Heart of Kent Hospice is a team of professionals and volunteers specialising in providing skilled care, comfort, compassion and hope to people facing the challenge of terminal illness. We are responsive to the needs of our patients, their families and their carers. We are passionate about our approach and seek to share our vision and expertise more broadly.

Our work

We currently offer the following services to people affected by a range of life-threatening illnesses:

Inpatient care

Hospice Inpatient Unit consists of eight single en-suite bedrooms and one four bedded bay and can provide in-patient care for up to 12 people at any one time with a team of doctors and nurses to provide symptom control, support and terminal care. There is no set length of time for an admission with length of stay being dependent upon meeting the assessed needs on an individual basis.

Patient and family support

Our Family Services Team provide psychological, social and spiritual care to patients and their families and can help people talk through their problems in a safe and confidential way.

Hospice Community Team provides much needed support and advice to patients in their homes.

Day therapy

The Day Therapy has up to 15 places each day meeting a variety of needs with access to physiotherapy, occupational therapies and a range of complementary therapies as well as counselling and spiritual support. 

Education and training

We have a programme of education offering a range of courses, designed to provide and promote knowledge, skills and confidence to professionals in clinical, non-clinical and voluntary roles within healthcare and other key service areas in order to spread our best practice across the community.

We seek to influence all those having an impact on people facing terminal illness, for example, hospital doctors, GPs and nurses so that those people receive the best possible care.

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.