A charity in Central Lancashire is marking forty years of compassionate end-of-life and palliative care.
St Catherine’s Hospice, at Lostock Lane in Lostock Hall, welcomed its first patients in July 1985 and is hosting a series of special events under the ‘Year of the Butterfly’ title in 2025 as a thank you to supporters, patients, families, staff and volunteers.
The hospice supports around 1,800 patients, and their families, each year and offers inpatient, outpatient and community services. But those figures don’t quite cover the extent to which the charity retains the goodwill to the community around Preston.
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Alison Dick, a senior staff nurse who has been at St Catherine’s Hospice for 12 years, told Blog Preston that their footprint that stretches into Chorley and Wyre means that there is a vast number of lives that have been touched by their care.
She also wants to stress that people do not only come to St Catherine’s Hospice to die.
She said: “I noticed early on when I was training what a big difference good palliative care can bring to families. When a patient dies, a family has memories of when that happened and it helps with the grieving process for them to know that their family member died comfortably and peacefully.
““The people coming through now [compared to at the 30th anniversary] have got more complex needs. The myth is still there that people come to St Catherine’s to die and that’s not the truth at all. They sometimes come to have their symptoms managed and then we might discharge them back home or to a nursing home.
“People can be frightened about coming to the hospice because they feel it’s just where they’re coming to die and that’s not the case.”
St Catherine’s Hospice was established as a charity in 1981. It was named after St Catherine of Siena who devoted her life to caring for the sick and poor people in that town. Four years later, it welcomed its first patience.
An extension was opened by Princess Diana in January 1993 and the on-site café The Mill opened in 2014.
The challenges to keep St Catherine’s Hospice offering care are significant. It receives £2.4m in core funding from the NHS which leaves it needing to raise around £5m every year. It relies on volunteers to keep coming forward to offer their time and skills.
Alison said: “There’s probably more volunteers than actual staff. We’ve got the shops and then there’s volunteers right across the hospice and in The Mill. We couldn’t do the job without them.”
St Catherine’s Hospice does manage end-of-life and palliative care but also helps people by going out into the community. The inpatient unit at the hospice is one aspect, but there is a team of clinical nurse specialists that manage people’s symptoms in the community if people would feel more comfortable being at home.
The Hospice at Home team then helps people who have made the decision to die at home rather than in hospital.
In 12 years working at St Catherine’s, Alison has been part of a team that makes a difference to thousands of people and that is part of the reason why fundraising events tend to get a good response.
She said: “The most rewarding thing is knowing that we’ve made a difference. We’ve been there to support, and done a good job of looking after a patient.
“Every day there is something to be proud of, there’s a fabulous team of nurses and we look after each other and the needs of the patients.
“We had a patient recently who wanted to go home to die. He was quite unwell but we managed to get him home in three hours. Those were his last wishes and we were able to get them honoured.”
Forty years is a special milestone for any charity and St Catherine’s Hospice wants to thank the community for years of kindness.
Lynn Kelly, chief executive of St Catherine’s Hospice said: “This is a very special year in our history, and it’s really about the people, those we care for, and the local community that makes it all possible.
“The Year of the Butterfly honours the wave of support we’ve felt over four decades. Whether it’s a cake sale, running a marathon, volunteering in our shops or supporting us as charity of the year – every act of kindness makes a difference.”
Upcoming events that will help raise funds for St Catherine’s Hospice include a skydive on 23 August, a walk across Morecambe Bay on 30 August, Great North Run on 7 September and the Longridge Soap Box Derby on 14 September.
Alison added: “It’s not a place to be frightened of. We don’t just look after people that die. There’s a lot of living to do and we want to help you live well.”
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