The ‘postcode lottery’ of hospice funding

The expert care and support provided by Willen at Home is free of charge and is the only service of its kind in Milton Keynes.

Willen Hospice is currently one of the most poorly funded hospices in the country. Only 13.8% of their running costs are met by ongoing NHS funding, which is less than half of the average amount provided to hospices nationally. In fact, their lesser-known Willen at Home service, which costs £1.4 million each year, is entirely funded by donations.

This month, the charity will be launching a campaign to raise awareness of the service. Penny, who has kindly shared her story, highlights the difference Willen at Home made for her family.

“After a long and happy retirement, my husband Peter was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 85,” says Penny. “He had no problems from the cancer really, until it went into his bones. Suddenly one day he was curled up in pain. A GP prescribed Peter co-codamol, which made him very sick, then morphine. I can remember standing in the kitchen with two lots of morphine, one in each hand, and no idea what to do with them. Peter was in a fair amount of pain and needed a walking frame to move. Then the GP put us on to the Hospice.

“We had always known about the Hospice because it was built while we were living here, and we all raised money for it. There wasn’t a bed available for Peter in the In-Patient Unit, so we were looked after by Willen at Home. They arranged for us to have an adjustable bed to make him more comfortable and I had no hesitation in phoning them if I had any questions. Nothing was too much trouble. They were super.

“One of my daughters says she will always remember a Willen at Home nurse called Ellie sitting us down and explaining to us what would happen when Peter was dying. We found that very useful because none of us knew; we’d never been with anybody who was dying.
“I have no idea what it would have been like without Willen at Home. I don’t think we could have coped.”

Look out for their Willen at Home campaign launching this month at www.willen-hospice.org.uk