Hospice at Home West Cumbria (HHWC) is one of more than 200 charitable hospices across the UK taking part in Hospice Care Week (4 – 8 October) an awareness campaign led by the national hospice and end of life care charity, Hospice UK.

Hospice Care Week is a week dedicated to celebrating hospices across the UK that work with local communities to provide care and support to patients, carers and families with palliative and end-of-life care needs. The campaign encourages people to have conversations about hospice care and raises the organisations profile, to ensure that the people of West Cumbria are aware of the services they can access.

From next week, HHWC will share information about all our services including Home Nursing, Specialist Lymphoedema Care, Family and Bereavement Support, Complementary Therapy, Fundraising, Volunteering and Retail. By sharing information, we hope to highlight the importance of the services they provide and encourage the local community to continue their valuable support.

Ellie McMillan, Communications Co-ordinator for HHWC said; “Hospice Care Week is an opportunity to reflect upon how vital our services are to the people in West Cumbria. During 2020/21, we have supported 674 patients across our services, which represents how it is important for us to continue to support our community through difficult times. We could not do this without the fantastic support from our local community, helping us raise £1 million each year to keep our essential services going.”

Lorraine Dixon, Head of Care and Quality for HHWC said “As a Charity there have been many challenges over the last 18 months, placing significant pressure on every service within the organisation and unprecedented demands on staff and volunteers wherever their place of work. Despite these challenges Hospice at Home West Cumbria holds a special place in our local community, providing palliative and end of life care to patients alongside support to carers, families and those bereaved. Our dedicated staff and volunteers have gone above and beyond expectations, their extraordinary commitment, professionalism and dedication has never wavered even in the most challenging of times. We have shared tears, frustrations and even laughter at times when we thought things couldn’t get any worse! Our priorities are simple, to be there when we are needed the most; for patients, their loved ones, their families and of course our staff”.

To celebrate Hospice Care Week, HHWC we will be sharing information across our social media platforms, website and stores in Cockermouth and Workington.

For more information on Hospice Care Week or to make a donation please click on the ‘Donate Now’ button, email info@hhwc.org.uk  or call 01900 873173.