A festive message from Chief Executive Rachel Street

Season’s greetings

For many of us, this is a time of year for reflection, remembrance, and embracing what lies ahead.

When I reflect on the past year, I am pleased that we were able to help even more people in our community who have faced the challenge of living with and dying from a terminal illness. We are supporting over 1,000 people at any one time, and we are honoured and privileged to be a trusted part of their journey.

I’m particularly proud of two key achievements this year which will help us to reach and support even more people in the future. During the summer, our fabulous Shaun the Sheep in the Heart of Kent art trail raised over £265,250 at auction, providing a much-needed boost to the income we must raise to fund our care. We also saw enquiries increase as people wanted to find out more about our Hospice.

Then obtaining outline planning permission for our new Hospice building in Linton was a significant milestone. Our aspiration is that this move will enable us to modernise how we work, improve our facilities and create a warm, welcoming and inclusive environment for all the local people we support, and their loved ones. It is still very early days for this project and I look forward to keeping you up-to-date with the progress we make going forward.

I will also reflect on the difference that the people we support tell me we have on them – being the voice at the end of the phone when someone needs reassurance and advice, being there to hold a hand when someone feels lost and offering a safe space for people to enjoy a cup of tea with others on a similar journey. These are the moments that make Heart of Kent Hospice special.

You may have heard that last week, Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced that hospices in England will receive £100 million in government funding over the next two years to enhance end-of-life care. Whilst we don’t yet know the detail of how the funding will be allocated or exactly what it can be spent on, we welcome the announcement.

However, during this festive season, I am conscious of the challenges that we face going forward as costs continue to rise and we will need to cope with the financial impact of the Employers National Insurance and National Living Wage which was announced recently. For Heart of Kent Hospice, this alone is likely to cost an additional £200,000. There is no doubt that these are difficult financial times for all hospices, including ours, and we must seek ways to reduce our expenditure and increase our income. We are doing all we can to protect our patients and their families from the increasingly challenging financial circumstances facing our Hospice and to deliver our specialist palliative and end-of-life care services.

We are grateful for your continued support now more than ever.

If you would like to make a difference to a local family this festive season and to show your support for our incredible nursing colleagues, there is still time to make a donation to our Sponsor a Nurse appeal.

Providing compassionate care and comfort to those who need us is only possible because of your kindness, generosity, and commitment and the collective efforts of our incredible colleagues, volunteers, donors, and community partners.

So finally, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your loved one’s festive cheer from everyone at Heart of Kent Hospice.

Thank you for all you do to support us.

Rachel Street

Chief Executive, Heart of Kent Hospice