We're here for you 24/7

Saint Francis Hospice is the local hospice that serves Romford and the surrounding areas up into Brentwood and back west towards Barking and Dagenham and Redbridge. In a nutshell the hospice provides care and support to people and their families who are living with serious illnesses within this large area of greater London.

I work as a Doctor at the hospice and it’s actually quite rare to meet people locally who don’t have some knowledge of or a connection to the hospice. I frequently meet people out of work who talk to me about the care the hospice provided a relative or a friend or a neighbour and often that experience is really quite special to them.

People tend to remember it, even if our input was only brief. Ultimately, I think this is because what the hospice does day to day is quite special. It looks after patients and their families in what will probably be the most frightening and challenging periods of their lives. These can be awful times for families and the hospice is there to support them in whatever way they need.

The bulk of this support comes from the community team who look after and support patients in their homes but the hospice also has a ward where we’re able to admit people if they need more intensive support. Our team is necessarily broad and includes nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists, doctors, social workers, complementary therapists, gardeners, chefs, fundraisers, admin staff and so the list continues.

Saint Francis Hospice provides care and support 24/7 365 days of the year - our ward is always open and our community team is always available on the phone for advice at any time - day or night.

Our teams will be providing this same care throughout the festive period - from Christmas to New Year’s Day.

Inevitably all of this costs money for which the hospice, as a charity, is mostly dependent on its fundraising capacity. We receive about one third of our funding from the NHS but the rest we have to raise ourselves.

Without the support and generosity of the community we serve, we simply wouldn’t be able to provide the vital care that we do.

So a big thank you to everyone for their continued support and we wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.