About Salisbury Hospicecare Trust
About Salisbury Hospicecare Trust
(Reg Charity 282484)
The Salisbury Hospice and Palliative Care Services aims to support the quality of life for patients, and those close to them, by attending to their physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs.
The Hospice is situated on the southern boundary of the Salisbury District Hospital. It is a modern purpose built facility opened in 1987, and extended in 1995. Further improvements and extensions were built in 2003. All patient care is free of charge.
· The hospice has 10 beds in regular use.
· The Palliative Care at Home Service provides care for patients at the terminal stage of their lives.
· A team of five Community Nurses visit patients in their homes throughout the Salisbury area.
· The Hospital Palliative Care Team visit patients in the Hospital.
· The Peter Gillam Support Centre provides activities and care for out-patients and allows their carers to have a break from their responsibilities.
· There are two Social Workers and 20 voluntary counsellors attached to the Hospice providing Bereavement support and help in what ever form it is needed.
The medical and nursing staff of the Salisbury Hospice have received international recognition for their work in the field of Palliative Care and play an active role in providing training in such skills.
By its nature, Palliative Care relies heavily upon the skills of the nursing teams. We place emphasis on a high standard of training and sharing of experiences with our practitioners. In particular, the use of Arts and Drama therapy has been pioneered.
There is a volunteer team of more than 100 local people who support the work of the professional medical staff in a variety of ways – reception, driving, gardening and patient support.
A fundraising team is constantly working to raise money for the Hospice – by arranging small local events, or more high profile events such as sponsored activities, concerts or sales.
The Salisbury Hospicecare Trust is committed to raising £13,500 each week to maintain and develop the work of the Hospice and Specialist Palliative Care Services.
Our history
The Salisbury Hospice Care Trust was created in 1981 in response to public awareness of the lack of support for people, and their friends and families, who were dying of terminal illnesses - in particular cancer - in the Salisbury area.
During 1981-2, it was the beneficiary of Derrick Alford’s Mayoral appeal - receiving £26,000. He was recently awarded the MBE in recognition of his continued work for the Trust.
Initially the service provided was only community palliative care – two Home Care Sisters and a social worker were part funded for the first three years by Macmillan Cancer Relief. Since the end of that funding Salisbury Hospice has received no further financial support from Macmillan.
In 1987, the Salisbury Hospice opened with 6 beds, costing Salisbury Hospice Care Trust more than £1 million.
In 1995, The Salisbury Hospice was extended to provide a further two bedrooms and office capacity to develop Community Palliative Care, Hospital Palliative Care and Bereavement Support.
In 2000, the Garden Room was enlarged to provide better facilities for the Peter Gillam Support Centre and better use of the sensory garden. Later, the Peter Gillam Support Centre re-furbished to include an activity area for visiting patients.
In 2003, work has begun on making all bedrooms single occupancy, enlarging the training rooms and improving the work environment for the Community nursing teams.