A local charity occupying a special place in the heart of the community is getting ready to mark a special milestone this year. Commander Crowley and Dr Sheila Cassidy
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022 marks 40 years since St Luke’s Hospice today, the main provider of end of life care for the city Plymouth welcomed its first patients. St Luke’s heralded the arrival of a completely new concept for the and its surroundings areas, looking after around 300 city - specialist care for terminally ill people as in-patients patients on any one day. ‘Quite simply though, we would never have come into in a home-from-home environment, rather than in existence – let alone still be helping local families four hospital, to ensure their comfort and dignity at the end decades on – without the unstinting support we receive of their lives. from the community around us. From this, grew the St Luke’s of today, looking after ‘All who give to the hospice, whether as volunteers the majority of its patients at home and at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, with only those with the or through donations and fundraising, do so in the knowledge that they are most complex symptoms needing something of admission to Turnchapel. ‘Quite simply though, we would supporting priceless value, the highly skilled, What has not changed since its never have come into existence – compassionate care people need beginnings though, is the charity’s at the end of their lives so that need to rely on support from let alone still be helping local can feel as at ease as possible individuals and businesses in the families four decades on – without they and make precious memories community to keep providing its the unstinting support we receive with loved ones. specialist services at no cost to ‘A huge thank-you to all our patients or their families. That’s from the community around us. supporters. Please keep doing why, as well as reflecting on what you do because we are four decades of compassionate going to need you more than ever as we strive to meet the care that has touched the lives of so many, St Luke’s is increasing demand on our services.’ using its 40th anniversary to express heartfelt thanks to all its supporters for their ceaseless volunteering and fundraising, plus the legacies that play such an important Key statistics National: It is predicted that the number of people part in helping the charity plan for its future. requiring palliative care will increase by 42% by 2040. From participating in its weekly lottery to donating to Local: We are an ageing population. The number its charity shops and taking on sponsored challenges like of people aged over 85 years in Devon will Midnight Walk and Men’s Day Out, such commitment increase by 29% by 2025. from the community has enabled St Luke’s to survive In the last six years demand for St Luke’s care has despite the ever-increasing costs of running its 24-hour increased by 37%. service 365 days a year. In addition to expert, hands-on medical care, its teams Over 50% of hospice care is delivered at home with the provide not only practical advice to patients and their remaining in hospital. Only 5% of care is delivered in a families but vital emotional support, too - warmth, traditional hospice building. sensitivity and kindness that make an important difference to them at the most difficult time of their lives. From its humble beginnings in a converted suburban Chief Executive of St Luke’s Steve Statham said: ‘What house to the widely known and greatly respected service it provides today, it is hard to imagine our community started in the early 1980s as the idea of a small group of parishioners led by the Rev John Watson of St Andrew’s without St Luke’s. One of the innovators from its early days, who was central to shaping the high-calibre local Church in Plymouth grew to become what St Luke’s is
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