Lesley Griffiths, Minister for Health and Social Services, has commended the high-quality care given at the Marie Curie Hospice in Penarth.
The hospice provides expert care and the best possible quality of life for people with cancer and other illnesses completely free of charge.
It costs £4 million each year to run the Marie Curie Hospice in Penarth, which receives funding from the NHS as part of the £6.888m made available to improve palliative and end of life care across Wales. The balance of funds comes from local individuals, membership organisations and businesses which enable the hospice to continue to deliver its services.
Working with local GPs, the hospice is pioneering a ‘care tracker’ to monitor the health of patients once they are discharged, ensuring they are able to continue to access palliative and end of life care services.
The hospice team also recently secured lottery funding to support work with minority communities in South East Cardiff.
Hospice Manager Karen Stephens, said:
“The hospice provides in-patient care and day services for over 1200 people with cancer and other illnesses across South East Wales each year. We offer a huge range of expert services to both patients and their families including complimentary therapies as well as bereavement, spiritual and social support. Hand in hand with the local Marie Curie Nursing service we work to give terminally ill people the high quality care and support they need at the end of life in the place of their choice.”
Following the tour around the hospice, the Minister for Health and Social Services, Lesley Griffiths said:
“Marie Curie’s ethos is everyone with cancer and other illnesses should get the high quality care and support they need at the end of life, in the place of their choice.”
The Welsh Government funding made available through the Palliative Care Implementation Board allows this choice to be offered as inpatient services, home care or hospice at home.
Wider projects across Wales have seen the Marie Curie Nursing service working in partnership with out of hours GPs to provide Rapid Response Services to patients, their carers and families in the Betsi Cadwaladr UHB area.
