HRH The Princess Royal Visits Strathcarron Hospice

HRH The Princess Royal was given a warm welcome when she visited Strathcarron Hospice on Friday.

The Princess Royal, who is a familiar face at the Fankerton Hospice, met with the new CEO of the Hospice Mags McCarthy for the first time, alongside Lord Lieutenant Alan Simpson, Provost Robert Bissett and Chief Superintendent Roddy Irvine, Divisional Commander of Forth Valley Division Police Scotland. She then toured the Hospice spending time chatting with staff, volunteers, supporters and patients on the ward.

In Strathcarron's 43-year history the HRH The Princess Royal has visited the Hospice 37 times since its first birthday in 1982.

 

As part of her visit The Princess Royal was given a presentation by staff on the Hospice’s two projects they are running in partnership with Glenochil Prison on frailty and bereavement.

She also met with Hospice volunteers, representative from Cumbernauld Action and Care for the Elderly, pupils from Greenfaulds High School (formerly Cumbernauld PS), Fallin Primary and Mclaren High School (formerly Killin Primary School) and Live Your Life patient Laura McGowan who has been featured as part of the Strathcarron Stories Podcast series.

HRH meets Live Your Life patient Laura McGowan

Mags said: “We are delighted to welcome HRH The Princess Royal for her annual visit. There has been a great buzz about the place as we eagerly anticipated her arrival and we are very grateful for the time she devotes to staff, volunteers, supporters, patients and families.

“The Princess Royal met individual patients in our Inpatient Unit in private and each patient will receive a photograph of their meeting with her.  We know that these become cherished family mementos of a lovely day.

“We are grateful for the devotion HRH The Princess Royal has shown the Hospice over the years. It has been much appreciated.”

Care and services right across our communities and within the 24 bedded ward in the Hospice are provided by 243 staff with support from hundreds of volunteers who contributed over 30,000 hours of volunteering during 2022-23.

The largest independent Hospice in Scotland, Strathcarron provides essential services for patients with life-limiting conditions (including end-of-life care) for patients living in Forth Valley and Cumbernauld and Kilsyth in North Lanarkshire.

In 2022-23 the Hospice provided care for 323 patients in our 24 patient bedded unit, supported 357 Hospice at Home patients including 3286 visits, carried out 6435 Community Nurse Specialists visits to 1109 new patients and made 8142 clinical calls.

The Hospice has to raise £16,637 daily to provide the specialist end of life care and services to individuals and their families across its communities.

Read more Strathcarron Hospice News