At Prospect Hospice, we provide outstanding, personalised and compassionate care for everyone in Swindon, Marlborough and the surrounding areas affected by a life-limiting illness, completely free of charge. For more than 40 years, we’ve been a dedicated, non-hospital, end-of-life care service for patients and their loved ones - around the clock, every day of the year. Our mission is to ensure that anyone can access the best possible expert care whenever and wherever they need it – whether at the hospice or in their own home. As a charity, we only exist because of the generosity and support of our amazing local community.
Find out about the range of end-of-life care services that we offer to patients and their families. These delivered free of charge and are designed to provide compassionate, personalised support during every stage of a life-limiting illness in every kind of care setting, to anyone who needs it.
We couldn’t do what we do without considerable support from our local community. Find out all the different ways in which you can support Prospect Hospice, including fundraising, volunteering and purchasing from our shops. All contributions are greatly appreciated and enables us to deliver care that is free of charge to our patients and their families.
Our café sits at the heart of our hospice in Wroughton and serves a range of delicious home cooked meals to suit all tastes. Whether you're looking to catch up with friends over lunch or relax with coffee and cake, our Heart of the Hospice café has you covered.
Whether shopping with us in person or online, or donating your pre-loved goods, we thank you for supporting us through our shops where you help to raise around £2million a year for Prospect Hospice.
We pride ourselves on being a great place to work and we're always looking for outstanding people to join our team at the hospice across all areas of the charity.
Prospect Hospice is the leading provider of education and training for end-of-life care in Swindon and north Wiltshire. Working closely with you, our colleagues within partner organisations, we want to ensure that the very best care is available to everyone facing the end of life. This is why we provide education and development opportunities, all of which aim to encourage learning and build confidence in end of life care and support.
They work with parents and guardians to support children when someone in the family has been diagnosed with a life-limiting illness.
They support adults in developing ways of coping, both for themselves and their children, by creating items such as videos, memory boxes and letters that will one day become cherished memories.
They will sometimes work directly with children too, as well as schools and other professionals who are involved in supporting the family.
We have a broad range of resources that help families prepare for loss or in their bereavement, including books and workbooks, and we can also signpost families to websites and other information sources.
When a patient is discharged from the hospice, for example, to enable them to be at home at the end of their life, we will often help with arrangements around their social care.
This is to ensure that their needs are considered and met and to support decision making in what are often difficult situations.
When a family situation is particularly complex and extra care and advice is needed to support them, we can be there to help.
Here at Prospect Hospice we understand that, when someone is very ill, the whole family can be affected, often facing practical, financial and emotional difficulties.
Our team supports families and carers to build resilience and enable them to adapt to the changes they face.
Our family support team assistants provide a comprehensive carer support service that includes access to 1-1 support and regular carer events to enable our carers to socialise with others in similar situations with the opportunity of building supportive friendships and reducing isolation. We also deliver valuable information to help carers in their changing dynamic both at our events and through our carers course.
We focus on improving wellbeing and coping strategies for our carers and our events also include access to our complementary therapists.
Our family support team assistants work with families referred to Prospect Hospice, to maximise their income, focusing primarily on disability benefits and looking at other entitlements and grants. Signposting is available on legal issues such as wills and power of attorney.
Our care for the families and friends of our patients is available into bereavement for many of the families that we meet.
Prospect Hospice has experienced bereavement staff and trained volunteers who are able to provide a variety of support services including support by telephone or in person, either at home or at the hospice. We also hold bereavement support groups which can provide opportunities for meeting with other people who are bereaved, and for the sharing of experiences and supporting one another at this often difficult time.
Our team would be very happy to talk to you, at any point, about our bereavement support services, or coping with your loss and grief experiences. We can also provide you with further information about other sources of bereavement services both locally and nationally.
Further support is available from the following groups and organisations:
Cruse Bereavement Support is a national charity for bereaved people offering telephone, email and website support for children, young people and adults. You can access their helpline number for free on 0808 808 1677 (see their website for more details around opening hours) or chat online with a bereavement counsellor using their Cruse Chat Service.
Mind provides information on bereavement, where to go for support and suggestions for helping yourself and those around you through grief.
Macmillan Cancer Support offers free, confidential support to people living with cancer and their loved ones.
The Compassionate Friends supports bereaved parents and their families.
The Good Grief Trust is run by the bereaved for the bereaved.
Samaritans helpline 116123 24 hours a day for anyone for any reason.
Sue Ryder palliative, neurological and bereavement support
This is not an exhaustive list and we recommend that you take the time to review the resources prior to sharing them with your child to ensure suitability.
Hope Again is for young bereaved people living after loss.
Child Bereavement UK provides support for anyone who has lost a child and for children themselves who are bereaved. Their helpline number is 0800 028 8840.
Wiltshire-based charity Treehouse offers a range of resources for bereaved children. They also provide direct work and group work to bereaved children in the local area.
Winston’s Wish is the UK’s childhood bereavement charity. From parents to teachers, everyone and anyone who is supporting a grieving child can call their Freephone helpline on 08088020021 (Mon-Fri, 8am-8pm).
Childline offers a range of information for children and young people about a range of issues. Children can access direct telephone support on 0800 1111.
Riprap website offers young people support when a parent has cancer.
Young Minds website for young people and their parents offers advice about mental health and wellbeing. There is also a parent’s helpline number: 0808 802 5544.
We also have a list of books for children and young people that may helpful. Please call 01793816127 for more information on this.
https://www.gov.uk/bereavement-support-payment for those under state pension age who were married to or in a civil partnership with the person who has died.
https://www.gov.uk/funeral-payments (income related benefit)
https://www.gov.uk/when-someone-dies practical time line of what to do when someone dies.
Prospect Hospice is committed to promoting the wellbeing of all adults and children who use our services and ensuring that they live a life that is free from harm, abuse and neglect.
We work in an open and transparent way and encourage staff, volunteers, patients and families to raise any safeguarding concerns.
If you have any questions or require further information, please call 01793 816124 .
For all family support enquiries, please get in touch with the team on 01793 816135.
For patient enquiries, please telephone our single point of contact team (SPOC) on 01793 816124 (Mon-Fri, 9am to 5pm).