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.
On this day back in 1980, Prospect Hospice was born.
The vision of Rev Derryck Evans, the hospice began with a few people wanting to help the local community care for their loved ones at the end of their life. A noble cause, and one shared by the whole of the hospice community. For Prospect Hospice this desire to help those at the end of their lives to die with dignity, surrounded by their loved ones, has continued to grow and develop. I’m sure the Rev. Derek Evans couldn’t have imagined how we’d change.
Our services started with two nurses delivering care into people’s homes and, as our reputation grew and the demand for our care increased, we found a base at the Victoria Hospital. 25 years after we were first formed, we launched an appeal for a new purpose built building and opened the hospice we have today at Wroughton complete, with an inpatient unit, doctors, nurses, therapy support, carers and bereavement support offered 24/7 care for people of Swindon and north east Wiltshire. There has been a lot of change of the last 40 years, and that change isn’t going to stop here.
This year we’re pausing our 40th celebrations. This pandemic is taking too many lives, infecting too many people and now is not the right time to celebrate. What this virus has shown us though is that despite our many years of service to the local community, we are not complacent. We are as strong and as agile as we ever were.
To support our community through this pandemic, we have completely changed our services, redeployed our staff and risen to the challenge that faces our community.
In some ways we’ve gone back to our roots. We’re delivering more care than ever before in the community, keeping people safe in their homes, surrounded by their loved ones, and what has swelled my heart with pride is how every single member of Prospect Hospice has risen to that challenges. Whether they are critical front line clinical staff, part of the vital support teams that keeps the hospice running, our volunteers who support every single part of the hospice, or those colleagues who work with the community and our supporters, despite the challenges we face, together we will raise the funds we need and keep our operation going to ensure our doors remain open for another 40 years.
Today, we won’t be celebrating our 40th year, but we will be saying thank you to all of our staff, volunteers and supporters, past and present, without whom we wouldn’t have helped the thousands of people across this wonderful community.
Yes, times are tough at the moment, for everyone, and for some more than others. I want to thank you, our staff, volunteers and supporter on behalf of our patients, their families and those important to them for helping Prospect Hospice be here to care for and support them in their hours of need since 1980.
Thank you.
Irene Watkins, chief executive at Prospect Hospice
09 April 2020
01 April 2020
25 March 2020