St Oswald’ s – The Last Refuge?
In previous issues we’ ve looked at churches that share the name of St Oswald.
This time it’ s not a parish, but a place of last refuge for those whose lives are drawing to a close that merits our attention.
Situated in the North-East of England, St Oswald’ s Hospice celebrated its 30 th birthday this year. Their targets are to:
‣ To develop expertise in life-limiting conditions
‣ To expand the children’ s hospice and facilitate independent living for young adults
‣ To develop a family support service for carers and bereaved adults and children
‣ To develop a funded, community-based network of lymphoedema services
‣ To lead the development of a North East palliative care education centre
‣ To create alliances with other local providers to increase access to palliative care
‣ To ensure co-ordinated out-of-hours palliative care and advice is available across the region
Founded in the 1970’ s St Oswald’ s was the result of the drive and determination of their founders, who felt so strongly that the people of the North East of England should benefit from hospice care, that they set about campaigning for it.
16
Over the years, their campaigning role has involved forging partnerships and driving forward an agenda to mainstream hospice care.
Today, they work with a number of partner agencies, most notably Hospice UK and Together for Short Lives, to campaign collectively with other UK hospices about issues affecting adults, children and young people with life limiting conditions.
You can find out more about the work of the hospice at http:// www. stoswaldsuk. org /