The Hospice owes its origins to the vision of its founder, Dom Valdez, who initially established a Cancer Support Group for people and their families with life limiting illnesses after his own wife was diagnosed with a serious illness. The first group began meeting in 1981 in Windmill Hill and was proven to be a much needed service. Due to its success Dom was often asked to provide advice to other organisations who wished to provide similar support group services.
Dom later identified the need for a Hospice in Runcorn and thanks to the generosity of the Runcorn Development Corporation a site was acquired here in Murdishaw. During the next few years the site was rapidly developed so that by 1986 two thirds of the current Hospice was complete. In the early 1990’s the last section of the Hospice, our In-Patient Unit, was added. Dom’s services to the community were recognised in the National Honours List and he very proudly received his BEM (British Empire Medal) from the Queen.
At this stage in the Hospice’s development a range of care was being offered including long-term residential and nursing home care. Following Dom’s sad and untimely death in 1999, the organisation refocused on delivering purely specialist palliative care. The Board of Trustees decided that the range of care on offer was confusing for potential patients, difficult to justify from a fundraising perspective since some of the services were not free, and hard to staff adequately because of the sheer range of need being addressed.
From the year 2000 to the present day the Hospice has focused on developing its specialist team, increasing its range of services and improving its environment. All of the patient areas have been completely refurbished over the last 3 years at a total cost of £600,000 funded in part by successful bids for grant funding supported by income from the local community. We receive £881,000 from government grants for our services but require an income of £2.1 million annually to run the organisation. As one would expect to achieve this £1.2 million shortfall we require a professional and very active fundraising team. This team is responsible for delivering our retail operation and Hospice events as well as providing close support for individuals and organisations that choose to support us.
The services we provide to our patients and their families are free of charge.