St Clare Hospice, is celebrating national Hospice Care Week by highlighting their team of unsung heroes who to deliver free palliative support to residents.

Running until Sunday, October 13, the west Essex and east Herts charity is one of more than 200 charitable hospices across the UK taking part, led by Hospice UK.

This year the theme ‘This is What It Takes’ highlights that while free hospice care is provided for people with life-limiting conditions and their families it is not cheap.

Sarah Thompson, chief executive of St Clare Hospice, said: “Here at St Clare we have a team of fantastic staff, from cleaners and cooks to physiotherapists and social workers, who work alongside our clinical staff to help people in East Herts and West Essex who are living with a life-limiting illness.

“But we couldn’t do what we do without the generous support of our volunteers and fundraisers; we need to raise £8,000 each and every day in order to pay for our free, expert care.

“Hospice care is about much more than medical care; we help prevent social isolation, we help people come to terms with their diagnosis and we help our patients live well.

To be able to provide the best help and support St Clare Hospice needs to raise around 60 per cent of its overall running costs each year.

Around 2,000 people each month actively donate to the charity in Hastingwood, with around £3million of fundraising must also come from their eight charity shops.

More than 550 people regularly donate their time working in their charity shops, with to more than 100,000 hours of time given up last year alone.

Tracey Bleakley, chief executive of national hospice and end of life care charity Hospice UK, said: “During Hospice Care Week, we’d like to give a big shout out to everyone involved in making this happen for over 200,000 families every single year and show just what it takes.

“We want to give people a ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse of the sheer diversity of people and resources that goes into the compassionate care provided to people at the end of their lives and why hospices are truly at the heart of their communities."

To show your support to St Clare Hospice during Hospice Care Week, visit: https://stclarehospice.org.uk/get-involved/