I've seen first hand the amazing work carried out by Hospices in the region. Having worked closely with a Hospice when I was part of a team providing urgent out of hours care in Shropshire, I saw how vital their role is. They gave all the training for our team to provide End of Life care when there was no-one else to attend to these patients. The NHS don't fund this training or the care itself after certain hours, it's left to incredible Charities like St Luke's, which I still find unbelievable. End of Life care is vitally important.

Since 1988, St Luke’s has been providing palliative care to local people, supporting them in ways which go beyond the scope and funding of the NHS. Last year they supported over 1,000 local people with a huge range of support from end of life care on our ward to supporting carers, and from helping children cope with grief to helping patients return to work after an illness.

They are a charity and provide all care for free, so they rely on the generosity and commitment of supporters to raise more than 80% of their costs.