How would Strathcarron use a £3,000 YPI Grant ?

Everything we do in our community, for our community, and with our community, is to enable people to live and die well.

Strathcarron offers a wide range of services to our patients both in the Hospice building and out in peoples own homes-all our services are provided free of charge. Every patient journey is different and services accessed will be dependent on their individual diagnosis and stage of illness.

• Question: What ages of people do you look after ?

We care for patients aged 16 years and upwards from the moment of referral-this can be in their own homes or in our In-patient unit. 

• Question: Why do people choose Strathcarron Hospice to help them?

Many of our patients or their families can contact us directly for help or advice from the moment they have been diagnosed with their illness or condition. Many call our Support Line as they may simply need some reassurance about the early stages of their condition or require more input or care from our team at home or to come into the Hospice.

• Question: When do patients come in to the Hospice ?

Patients come into the Hospice for a variety of reasons, some only for a short period of time or longer if necessary, including pain management to have their medication reviewed, or for end of life care.

Many patients prefer to stay at home and receive palliative and end of life care from our teams in the community, surrounded by people and things that they love. 

• Question: Do you help children ?

Yes, we also provide Bereavement and family support to all family members including children, from the moment of diagnosis and beyond.

• Question: How many people work at Strathcarron ?

We have 248 Employees (paid staff) across all the various teams. We also have a team of over 600 Volunteers (un-paid) who assist staff across all areas of the Hospice-(with the exception of medical roles within our IPU.)

We would not be able to operate without the support of our incredible Volunteers helping us.

• Question: What is our Charity hoping to achieve over the next 5 years ?

We aim to:

• Create opportunities to grow our excellent care to reflect what’s important to those who need and use our service

• To grow our impact and reach across local communities and our influence at a national level

• Stay financially sustainable as costs rise. We are continually aiming to increase our income year on year to enable us to do this

• Question: What are our short term goals. ?

 We know that to continue delivering the highest standards of care, our services must be the right service, at the right time, in the right place, guided by the question: “What’s important to you?”

• Question: Is our charity struggling with anything ?

A big challenge is that many people, including healthcare professionals, don’t understand what a Hospice really does. They think we only support older people in the last days of life, but most of our work is helping people live well for as long as possible, often at home. Because of this confusion, people sometimes don’t get referred to us early enough.

In terms of raising money, the rising cost of living directly affects how much spare money people are able to donate. With these rising costs and growing demand for hospice services, as a hospice charity, we have a responsibility to future proof the availability of these valuable services for future generations. We need to continually be creative on how we raise our funds, and raise awareness of these services for the benefit of the people living with life limiting conditions.