A hospice is not just a building; it is a way of caring for people. Hospice care aims to improve the lives of people whose illness may not be curable.

It helps people to live as actively as possible after diagnosis to the end of their lives, however long that may be. The highest value is put on respect, choice and empowerment.

St Clare Hospice is a charity providing specialist care for people living with a terminal or life limiting illnesses in West Essex and East Herts border. We care for patients and their families, providing physical, social, psychological and spiritual support. We currently only receive 30% from the NHS towards our £2.8m annual running costs. To fund our caring work we rely on fundraising, people making donations, leaving gifts in Wills and organising events.

Referrals are made using the St Clare Hospice referral form which can be downloaded from our website and is then completed by a patient’s GP, hospital team, Macmillan nurse, clinical nurse

specialist or district nurse and returned to us by fax or in the post. Patients and their carers can also contact us directly.

For further information on our referral process please visit our website.

Last year, almost 23% of patients treated came from the Uttlesford area so we really are your local Hospice and we are actively supporting families in your area. We have two shops in the area, in Saffron Walden and in Great Dunmow.  Donations to and purchases from our shops are always welcome and our staff there are always happy to answer any questions you may have about the work that we do.

You can contact St Clare Hospice on 01279 773700 or call the fundraising office direct on 01279 773750 if you would like to help raise valuable funds for us. Alternatively, the Community Fundraiser for the Uttlesford area, Sarah Calder, is always available on her mobile number: 07528 520016.