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.
Prospect Hospice’s CEO, Irene Watkins, has announced that she will be stepping down from the role in 2023 after more than four years of leading the charity.
Irene, who joined Prospect Hospice as interim Chief Operating Officer in September 2018, was appointed CEO in May 2019. Since then, she has successfully led the charity through the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic and, in October 2021, Prospect Hospice was given an overall rating of outstanding following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Prospect Hospice’s chair of trustees, Dr Kevin Howard, said that Irene has exceeded what the board of trustees asked of her when she was appointed and under her leadership the charity is recognised as having an inspiring shared purpose to deliver outstanding care.
“None of us could have envisaged that less than a year after Irene’s appointment our traditional ways of providing care to patients and families, and our usual ways of raising money to provide that care, would be turned upside down by a pandemic,” said Kevin.
“But Irene rose to the challenge and she and her leadership team immediately instigated new ways of working to reflect the new approaches to providing support and using the hospice’s resources effectively. It’s a tribute to Irene’s leadership skills and inclusiveness that staff, volunteers, patients and families all adapted so easily to these new approaches to care.
“I’m delighted to say that Irene and the board have agreed that there will be a transition period into 2023, so that her experience and knowledge concerning end-of-life care in Swindon and north east Wiltshire can be shared extensively and support whoever takes on the role of CEO in the future. On behalf of the board, staff and all those whose lives are touched by Prospect Hospice I thank her for the vision, leadership and energy that she has brought to the role.”
Irene Watkins said the past four years have been some of the most rewarding of her entire career because Prospect Hospice is such a special organisation.
“When the position arose to become the chief executive, I felt that this would be a wonderful opportunity to build on the future for Prospect Hospice and to ensure that it stays at the very heart of the local community that it serves,” said Irene.
“The clinical and financial pressures that Covid-19 brought certainly added an additional dimension to the role, but I have been so lucky in having the support of the most dedicated and hard-working colleagues and volunteers.
“It hasn’t always been an easy journey, but the CQC inspection summed up what a fantastic job the people at Prospect Hospice do, day in and day out, whatever challenges they face. One of the most rewarding comments I read in the CQC report was that staff feel proud to work within the hospice team. That sums up how I feel, too. I am very proud – and fortunate – to have worked alongside such an amazing group of people.
“It hasn’t been an easy decision to leave, but I do have some other projects I’d like to work on, and now feels like the right time to start handing over the reins to a successor. I shall always be cheering Prospect Hospice on from the side-lines and I know it will continue to be at the heart of the community in the future.”
08 September 2022
05 September 2022
18 July 2022