About Birmingham St. Mary's Hospice
Hospice services are open to everyone, regardless of any consideration except need and the availability of resources to meet that need.
Over the last year, Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice has cared for over a thousand local people all in the later stages of their life through illness. Hospice philosophy holds that the final weeks and days of someone’s life are very important and our specialist staff work towards making the quality of life during this period as good as it can be.
Patients are referred to the hospice by their GP or hospital consultant. They can then be admitted for pain and symptom control, respite or terminal care, or cared for at home by home care nurses.
They and their families receive holistic care from a team of professional, experienced medical and nursing staff, occupational and physiotherapists, counsellor/social workers (assisted by a team of trained volunteers) and chaplains. There is also a team of volunteers specially trained to provide a range of complementary therapies for the comfort of patients.
Currently Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice offers:
- 25 in-patient beds in single rooms and small wards
- A self-contained family flat which enables a patient and his or her relatives to stay together
- 20 places each weekday in the day hospice offering support, friendship and meals for patients, plus respite for home carers
- Home care nurses supporting some 270 local people at any one time in their own homes
- Social work and bereavement support, including support for children
- Educational programmes for health professionals and programmes raising awareness of palliative care amongst other groups
The hospice has relied on volunteers since its very beginnings and currently has about 300 working at Birmingham St Mary’s. They work in all areas – charity shops, reception, the ward, day hospice, catering, administration and fundraising. Their input enables the hospice to continue to provide the level and quality of services its patients and their families deserve.
There is no charge to patients or their families for the services provided. The hospice is an independent, self-financing charity, which depends on voluntary donations to sustain the range of essential services. Grants received from local health authorities cover less than one-third of hospice expenditure and Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice continually faces the real challenge of securing its future.
Our history
Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice started in 1973, when the mutual concern of a hospital chaplain and a retiring matron – at the difficulty of giving adequate, total, care to certain patients – reached its climax. “We need a Hospice in the Midlands” she said.
‘She’ was Monica Pearce and she believed that although not every patient can be cured every patient can be helped – that there is always something that can be done, both for the patient and for the family. Monica Pearce had great enthusiasm and drive and inspired those around her to achieve her vision for a local hospice.
From the very beginning, it was intended that the hospice should be non-fee paying. It was established that patients will be admitted according to need - medical and social - and that services should be available for people from all walks of life, of all faiths and of none.
Birmingham St Mary’s was only the seventh hospice to be founded in the country, a result of tireless fundraising and incredible generosity. The hospice opened to receive its first patient on 5th March 1979. The official opening by Princess Alexandra took place in July 1979.
In January 1979 the cost of keeping one patient in the hospice was forecast to be £8,500 per annum. Now, almost 25 years later, the cost of running the hospice is over £8,500 each day. Since then the hospice has cared for many thousands of Birmingham people either in the hospice or in their own homes. In 1999, following a successful capital appeal to pay for much needed extensions and refurbishment, the name of the city was added to the name of the hospice. This both emphasises the unique role played by St Mary’s in Birmingham and acknowledges the generous support given by the city’s people to their hospice.