-
St Christopher's Hospice -
expert palliative care for the dying
Facts
- Founded by Dame Cicely Saunders in 1967 St Christopher's is widely recognised as the first modern hospice.
- St Christopher's is a registered charity. It costs over £14 million each year to maintain our services. All our services to patients and families are free.
- Only around a third of our income is from the NHS, we rely on the support of individuals, companies and trusts to maintain our services and continue to offer them free of charge to patients and families.
- St Christopher's catchment area covers the London boroughs of Croydon, Bromley, Lambeth, Lewisham and Southwark, 1.5 million people.
- St Christopher's cares for over 2,000 adults each year. Each year we provide over 15,000 days of care on our wards and support around 2,000 people in their own homes.
- On any one day, St Christopher’s at Home service cares for around 600 people in their own homes 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- St Christopher’s shares its skills and expertise by running training courses for care homes (over 120 homes have so far participated).
- St Christopher's doctors also work in local hospitals such as Croydon University and Princess Royal University Hospitals.
- St Christopher's is one of the largest providers of palliative care education in the world. Each year around 7,000 health and social care professionals attend our Education Centre courses and outreach programmes in GP practices, care homes and schools.
-
St Christopher's has an active programme of research. Our depression study in partnership with the Maudsley Hospital is the largest so far in the UK and has produced important new thinking. - St Christopher’s is supported by a volunteer workforce of around 1,000 people giving their time, energy and skills to the hospice.
- St Christopher's Candle Project works with more than 250 bereaved children and their families each year. We work with the Metropolitan Police to help train police officers supporting families after traumatic events such as murder, suicide and disasters.
- St Christopher's was awarded the prestigious Conrad Hilton Humanitarian Prize in 2001, presented by Kofi Annan.
- Our current Chief Executive Barbara Monroe was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours list in 2010.
- St Christopher's Schools Project has worked with over 40 schools bringing children and young people together with hospice patients with the aim of changing attitudes and dispelling myths around death and dying
