Basepoint Chepstow visit St David’s day hospice
Assistant Centre Manager at Basepoint Chepstow, Chloe Geoghegan, enjoyed really special morning earlier this week when she visited a St David’s Hospice Care day hospice for terminally ill patients and their families in Newport.
The visit was part of a cheque presentation organised by St David’s and the Monmouth Rotary Club, following the annual Monmouthshire Raft Race which took place in September and received match funding of £2,000 from Basepoint’s parent company, The ACT Foundation. Other attendees included DHL, Siltbuster Ltd and Module IT, all of whom played a part in sponsoring the event, which raised almost £30,000 for St David’s.
Attendees were given the chance to meet and were then presented with an overview of the work and progress of St David’s Hospice Care by CEO Emma Saysell. Emma told us that the vast majority of the work carried out by St David’s involves outreach, treating people in their own home 24 hours a day, as the majority of patients wish to be treated at home. Thankfully, St David’s Hospice Care can offer them that choice.
We also learned about the vast number of services St David’s offer to patients and their families both during an illness and after a patient has passed away, including:
- Children and Family support involving everything from financial planning to bereavement counselling
- A Specialist Nurse team who offer advice and support to patients, families and carers from diagnosis onwards
- Day Hospice Centres where patients can meet each other in a safe and relaxing environment while being cared for by centre staff
- A Complementary Therapy Team who aim to provide patients with a pleasurable and beneficial experience which may help to ease symptoms and provide an increased sense of well-being
We were given a tour of the day hospice, which feels more like a home than a medical centre. It was fantastic to see where donated funds end up and to get a sense of the amazing work St David’s perform in the community.
Finally, Emma told us some exciting news about the building of a new In-Patient Hospice, which will offer state-of-the-art patient and family led services and ensure people can access the best possible palliative and end of life care, irrespective of their diagnosis. St David’s Hospice Care will receive £3m funding support from the Welsh Government for the project, which is due to commence in January 2016.
Last year St David’s Hospice Care cared for over 3,200 patients facing a life-limiting illness and supported their families and carers. At any one time their nurses are caring for over 1,100 patients. The cost of providing this service, which is free-of-charge to patients and their families, is over £7.5 million per annum. They would not be able to maintain these vital services without the help and support of local people and the business community.
Basepoint is owned by The ACT Foundation, a leading grant making charity dedicated to improving the quality of life of those in need. As such, each centre is dedicated to fundraising for a selected charity and The ACT Foundation match funds money raised by the chosen charity. The ACT Foundation have donated £8,000 in match funding to St David’s Hospice Care - Chepstow's chosen charity -since the start of the financial year and plan to donate another £2,000 by the end of it.
To find out more about St David’s Hospice Care please click here to visit their website. To find out about next year’s 51st Monmouthshire Raft Race please click here.