www.ashgatehospicecare.org.uk

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Autumn 2020

How your support is helping us in our most challenging times.

What’s inside?

New podcast launching in Hospice Care WeekPage 3

How Ashgate is continuing to respond to the COVID-19 crisisPage 4-5

Thank you to our community fundraising stars!Page 7

Registered Charity No. 700636

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Hi, I’m Barbara-Anne Walker and I’m the Chief Executive of Ashgate Hospicecare.

I am hugely proud to be involved in such an exceptional local charity. Ashgate is extraordinary because of our patients and their loved ones and the trust they place in us every day. It is also because of our staff and volunteers and the compassion and humanity that they bring to everything they do. It is truly a privilege to be allowed to care for people at such an important and precious time.

We are greatly blessed to be so well-loved and well supported by people who have experienced our care, by our local community and by our corporate supporters – that includes you!

This week is Hospice Care Week, which brings us the perfect opportunity to reach out to our supporters and show you how we are continuing to respond to the challenge of COVID-19 in our community. Never in our thirty-years history have we faced a challenge like this. All our staff, volunteers and supporters have responded in such amazing ways, but we are still facing huge funding challenges. We have seen most of our fundraising events cancelled or postponed, while the demand for our specialist care is increasing. Like other charities across the UK, we’re not immune to the challenges that COVID-19 has brought. We are deeply grateful for the generosity of our wonderful community who support us in so many important ways. These include fundraising, shopping in our retail and coffee shops, joining the Ashgate Lottery or leaving us a gift in their wills. A special thank you to everyone who supported us during our Urgent Appeal earlier this year. Every £1 donated to Ashgate Hospicecare makes a huge difference. Thank you for your continued support. We wouldn’t be here without it. Barbara-Anne Walker Chief Executive

Message from the Chief Executive

Contents

Hospice Care Week

Podcast launch

Our response to COVID-19

Markovitz Virtual Sparkle Night

A huge thank you to our community stars!

Fundraise at home for Ashgate Hospicecare

Help local people by leaving the everlasting gift of hospice care

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Your Impact | Autumn 2020

Hospice Care Week

Hospice Care Week, a national awareness week led by Hospice UK, is a chance to recognise what it takes to provide specialist end of life care. COVID-19 has meant that it is more important than ever that we continue to provide the highest level of care within our community.

From delivering and installing equipment in patients’ homes, to providing specialist end of life training to local care homes, to bereavement support for children dealing with the loss of a loved one, this is what it takes to care for people at the end of their life.

During Hospice Care Week, we’ll be launching a podcast in partnership with Sonder Radio. This delves into topics around what it takes to provide specialist, compassionate hospice care and gives an insight into Ashgate Hospicecare. Stephen Rumford, a physiotherapist at the hospice, will host the podcast and interview a variety of patients and other spokespeople along the way. “I’m really looking forward to hosting the podcast – it’s going to be an exciting project! I’ll be talking about my experience of working in palliative care, working with the dying and giving an insight into Ashgate Hospicecare and our patients’ lives. Every day I see the impact Ashgate is having on families and I can’t wait to share some of those stories with you.” – Stephen Rumford

At Ashgate Hospicecare we know that it takes...

and much more to provide end of life care for our patients and their families across North Derbyshire.

340dedicated staff

616volunteers

3,975home visits

67,000+bags of donations

£10,000,000+each year

Stephen, Ashgate’s physiotherapist and podcast host

Please join us from 5th to 11th October 2020 by sharing our posts on social media and listening to our podcast. Please play your part in showing what it takes to give people and their families the care they need and deserve at the end of life.

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Launching our new podcast!

Watch out for this launching on social media!

www.ashgatehospicecare.org.uk

Your Impact | Autumn 2020 www.ashgatehospicecare.org.uk

Linda’s dad, Lawrence, had complex care needs and was living at his home in Dronfield on his own. Ashgate Hospicecare’s occupational therapy team arranged for equipment to be delivered to his home during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable him to stay at home, where he wanted to be.

“Sarah and Jo from Ashgate’s occupational therapy team and the care agency staff rearranged the furniture. They moved dad’s hospital bed so that he could still enjoy the view that he loved from his window. Before he was bed nursed, that was his favourite place to sit in his chair. So, moving his hospital bed meant that his friends and neighbours were able to carry on saying hello to him through the window. Thoughtful touches like that made a very big difference. Having all the equipment meant that dad was able to fulfil his wishes of staying at home. Ashgate staff were taking infection control seriously and all the staff were wearing the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment. We both felt completely comfortable and safe.

Dad died peacefully at home on 5th July this year. I can’t thank the hospice staff enough. They helped to fulfil my dad’s wish of dying at home, which was so important to us all. I will always be grateful.”

We are not an NHS hospice. Less than 28% of our total income comes from local NHS health budgets. For the past six years, the amount of our income that comes from local NHS health budgets has stayed the same, even as demand for our specialist end of life care has increased each year. This means that we have to rely on the generosity of our community to raise millions of pounds each year. COVID-19 hugely impacted our fundraising and retail revenue. Our shops and coffee shops were closed for over two months and our events and other community fundraising were cancelled or postponed. We are so happy to have now reopened our shops and can welcome you all back with warm smiles. Times have been difficult but the amount of support we have received, especially since reopening our Donation Centre, has been outstanding. We have received over 40,000 bags of donations in all our shops! We worked hard to ensure all our staff, customers and volunteers are safe. We installed Perspex screens, adhered to two metre distancing and wore masks in all our retail shops. We would like to thank everyone who has supported us during this time.

In April this year, our fundraising team also launched an Urgent Appeal which was shortlisted for the national Charity Times Awards 2020. The response was overwhelming. Many of you chose to make a donation, set yourself a lockdown challenge, or donate PPE to help keep our patients and staff safe. Thanks also to the trusts, foundations, funds and local businesses for their generosity during the COVID crisis. We can’t thank you enough!

But we still need your support to continue to respond to the challenge of coronavirus. We expect this winter will be our busiest ever - just as we face our biggest funding challenges. Over the coming months, we expect the demands on our services to increase as we begin to deal with the added pressures of the winter months. Please continue to support the hospice if you can and help Ashgate Hospicecare be here for the future. To donate, please visit www.ashgatehospicecare.org.uk/urgent-appeal

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Our Donation Centre was flooded with donations

Our response to COVID-19

The past few months have been hugely challenging for us all. COVID-19 has meant that our compassionate end of life care is needed more than ever. So, at Ashgate Hospicecare, we have had to transform the way we provide our care, in the most difficult of circumstances, to reach more people than ever before. In our ongoing attempt to protect our patients, their relatives, our hardworking staff and volunteers, we had to make difficult decisions. These included restricting the numbers of visitors each patient can have on any one occasion while allowing our patients to spend precious time with their loved ones. Throughout the pandemic, we have provided: • direct care for COVID-19 positive patients in a

designated wing on our Inpatient Unit and at home

• bereavement support to families and friends who have lost loved ones

• specialist end of life training and support to care homes in our area

• counselling support to our own staff and NHS staff, giving them safe places where they can process the trauma of caring for COVID-19 patients.

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Whichever way you have supported us this year, we

would like to say a huge

THANK YOU!We have expanded our bereavement support into the wider community

We’ve introduced strict infection control procedures

Our specialist teams have been on the frontline of the crisisURGENT APPEAL

Lawrence received care at home from Ashgate

Your Impact | Autumn 2020 www.ashgatehospicecare.org.uk

7A huge thank you to our community fundraising stars!

Fundraise at home for Ashgate HospicecareInspired by the success of our fundraising heroes, we’ve created some brand NEW Fundraise at Home resources to bring fundraising straight to your living room! Whether it’s turning your Friday night fajitas into fundraising triumph or swapping the flicks for a film night at home, we’ve got you covered.

Find inspiration or download our fundraising packs at www.ashgatehospicecare.org.uk/fundraise-at-home, or get in touch with our fundraising team at communityfr@ashgatehospicecare.org.uk or 01246 567250.

Thank you to everyone that virtually sparkled for us on Saturday 19th September!

Due to COVID-19, we had to do things a little differently this year and that meant turning our award-winning fundraising event virtual! Because we couldn’t come together physically this year, we needed to be innovative to raise much-needed funds.

We are so grateful to every single one of you who walked, ran, cycled, danced (or anything else for that matter!) to raise vital funds for us this year. Over 2,350 of you virtually sparkled across North Derbyshire - even as far as Dordrecht in the Netherlands! Your support is more important than ever before, so thank you.

Entry for the 2021 event is now open. We hope to be walking once again and creating that sea of pink down the A61 bypass, so don’t miss out! Sign up now at www.sparklenightwalk.org.uk!

A new partnership! Next year’s event will also see us begin a new headline partnership with Vertu Toyota. We have worked closely with the business in recent years. We’re so grateful for their ongoing support of our flagship event.

We’d also like to extend a huge thank you to everyone at Markovitz Ltd for their generous partnership with the Sparkle Night Walk over the last four years. Over the years, their partnership has helped the event to grow and raise over £700,000 for Ashgate Hospicecare. A heartfelt thanks from everyone at the hospice.

A few weeks ago, before the rule of six was introduced, our amazing Day Services team completed a 10km walk and raised over £600 for the hospice. They started off their evening at Chester’s fish and chip shop on Sheffield Road, to give them the energy for their socially distanced challenge. Then, dressed in their pink T-shirts, flashing bunny ears, feather boas and coloured fairy lights, they virtually sparkled through the streets of Chesterfield.

Sarah Kerry, Day Services Manager, said “It was so humbling to speak to our local community whilst on our travels and hear so many stories of how the hospice has touched so many lives. Chesterfield, you were amazing. Thank you!”

Virtual

Night 20206

Sav and her family had a kitchen disco

Our Day Services team virtually sparkled!

With most of our fundraising events cancelled, postponed or going virtual, your support means more than ever. We are so grateful to every single person who has put in the time and effort to fundraise for us, especially through the COVID-19 crisis.

Ria Leslie

Raised: £5,350Walked the Yorkshire 3 peaks, 26 miles - in 12 hours! “Ashgate Hospicecare worked tirelessly to make my mum’s wish of returning home to her family a possibility in as little as 24 hours. Thanks to Ashgate, we got to spend her last precious days together as a family, which is all she wished for.”

Hannah Keeling

Raised: £700Achieved a total of 10,000 steps every day in July

“Ashgate’s amazing counselling services were an integral part in supporting me to rebuild my life after my dad died and I honestly don’t know where I would be without them.”

Zach Law

Raised:

£9,070 Cycled for 24 hours

Lee Burgess

Raised:

£1,010 Lockdown hairstyles

Tom Hodgson

Raised:

£11,759 Cycled for 24 hours

Marie Clifford

Raised:

£1,385 Walked 26 miles

Aaron Lowe

Raised:

£1,275 Head shave

Scott Allsop

Raised:

£2,173

Cycled and ran from Romania to Ashgate - 2222km

Help Ashgate be here for the future8

Your Impact | Autumn 2020

Your gift could help people like Kate receive specialist hospice care at home.

Gifts in wills are vital to ensure that we can continue to deliver our specialist care and help secure the future of our hospice. In fact,

1 in 5 of our patients is cared for thanks to gifts left in wills.

Here are a few ways that you can support the hospice at this difficult time:

Download our free Gifts in Wills guide!

We have put together a handy Gifts in Wills guide to help you navigate the world of will-writing and to help you decide what is right for you when making your will.

Download your free guide today by visiting www.ashgatehospicecare.org.uk/gifts-in-wills/. Make your will online for free!

We are now offering you the opportunity to make your will online for free with trusted online will-writing company, Bequeathed, who will guide you through the process. This means that you can take care of those you love. You may even choose to leave a gift to the hospice. This will come at no cost to you during your lifetime, but will help to ensure that we can be here for the future. To make your will online with Bequeathed, go to www.bequeathed.org/p/ashgate. If you have any questions about making your will or leaving a gift to the hospice, please don’t hesitate to get in touch by emailing us at mywill@ashgatehospicecare.org.uk or giving us a call on 01246 567250.

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