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Your support today will help St Christopher’s meet the increased demand for the services of the hospice during the current cost of living crisis.

We strongly believe that everyone should have access to the best care at the end of their lives. Last year we provided care and support to nearly 5,000 patients, more than 2,000 carers and almost 2,000 bereaved people, across south east London, both at home and in the hospice.

As a registered charity we need to raise £15 million every year to provide this care for people when it matters most. People like Jez and Charlotte, and Ben and his mum. Like everyone you heard from in our film. Each person is unique and we tailor our care to give them What Matters Most, meeting their social, emotional and spiritual needs, as well as managing any physical symptoms.

Without your support, this wouldn’t be possible.

St Christopher’s is currently responding to an increase in demand for its services, which comes at a time when income has fallen due to the cost of living crisis. This ongoing crisis is having a direct impact on fundraising as well as increasing the costs of running the hospice day to day.

The money raised through What Matters Most will help support thousands of people in our community and their families during what can be a very frightening and uncertain time.

£10,000 could be used to establish a hardship fund for patients at the end of life who are struggling during the ongoing cost of living crisis. This would help hundreds of patients at an unimaginably difficult time.

Doubling this to £20,000 will enable twice as many families to be helped at a critical time in their lives whilst they are caring for a family member who is dying.

£50,000 could enable St Christopher’s to expand the successful pilot homelessness project, as mentioned by Amanda in our film, into another one of our five boroughs for a whole year. This pioneering project can be replicated and scaled up to support many more people who need care and support. It pairs highly skilled social workers and nurses with shelters and other organisations. St Christopher’s would train staff how to recognise palliative care needs, improve referrals, and make sure many more homeless people at the end of life get the care and support they need and deserve.

“If people who are homeless aren’t accessing health and social care, they’re also not accessing end of life care and that is our business and responsibility.”

St Christopher’s wants to be there for people like Henry so they receive the same care and support as anyone else.

£86,480 could fund our Community nursing care for a week. The moment new patients are referred to St Christopher’s, each and every one person is asked “What matters to you?”. This is so our nursing team can provide individual care and support for them, as well as their close family and friends, throughout their illness with whatever is important to them.

£267,000 could fully fund Candle, our child bereavement counselling service, for a whole year. This counselling service is open to all children living within the five boroughs we serve – whether their loved one has been cared for by the hospice or the death has happened in the community. Candle supports over 350 children and their families suffering from bereavements each year. We support those most at need, which could be family members suffering the bereavement of a murdered loved one, children grieving the traumatic death of a sibling, families fleeing war with no recourse to public funding or those living through severe economic hardship. There is high demand for counselling and currently a long waiting list for the Candle service: we are very keen to support children more quickly at the time of their choosing.

Our target for What Matters Most

£500,000 could fund ten community nurses supporting patients in their own homes for an entire year. Where possible we want to support people to stay at home with those they love as this is where the majority of people want to be – in an environment that is familiar, reassuring and comfortable. These community nurses provide that for hundreds of patients with compassionate, expert care in the comfort of wherever they call home.

Quotation

“Without the support of St Christopher’s, we would have had to consider a very distressing hospital admission for our mother. The staff were angels, they gave us hope. Before they became involved we felt no other organisations were listening. They had a great manner - were calm, listened to our mother and gave her time to wash and dress at her own pace. I just wanted to cry with relief after their first visit, nothing was too much for them. The care should definitely expand, we are raising money for the Hospice on Facebook because of their work.”

£880,333 could pay for care on our hospice wards for a month at our Sydenham site where patients receive skilled and compassionate care. People come for a stay at the hospice for a variety of reasons, from symptom control such as pain or breathlessness, to emotional and family support, and of course for end of life care. Our wards are staffed by specialist nurses, who work as part of a multi-professional team. Patients can take part in groups and therapies such as music therapy, complementary therapies, digital art, painting, pottery and more throughout their stay with us.