Government national investment welcomed yet continued need for future help  20 Dec 2024 | View all news The government announced a £100 million capital investment nationally for hospices yesterday. In response, our CEO, Dr Richard Soulsby, has issued the following statement: It is extremely positive news that there will be a short-term injection of £100 [...]

Vote for Alison’s Story in the Smiley Charity Film Awards 19 Dec 2024 | View all news When Alison was diagnosed with an incurable condition, she didn’t know where to turn to for help. Then she found Katharine House Hospice. She doesn’t want people to struggle like she did and asked us to help her [...]

Two special volunteers celebrated at royal carol concert 12 Dec 2024 | View all news Two of our very dedicated and long-serving volunteers attended a prestigious event in London last week. Norma, who helps out with events in the hospice and on our committees, and Stephen, who works tirelessly to keep our hospice gardens so [...]

New date for Light Up a Life Service 09 Dec 2024 | View all news We are delighted to announce that our Light Up a Life Service has been rescheduled. The event will now take place on Sunday, 15 December at 5pm. Everyone is welcome to attend. This special service will feature: Carols, readings, prayers [...]

Events to help people find out about volunteering in retail 20 Nov 2024 | View all news We are holding a series of information events at some of our shops, allowing people to drop in and find out more about what's involved in volunteering in charity retail. When? The events will run from 11 am [...]

Go green this Christmas and help us continue to care 18 November 2024 | View all news Go green and register your Christmas tree for recycling in exchange for a donation to our charity. Register and donate online, and we will collect trees from homes, schools, churches, and businesses and take them to Mill Farm [...]

With us from day one 12 Nov 2024 | View all news Carole Bowen has been part of our family since day one, making her our longest serving member of staff. As we continue to celebrate our 35th anniversary, Carole shares some of her memories. Giving something back Originally a volunteer with Stafford Hospice at Home, [...]

Light Up A Life and remember a loved one 11 Nov 2024 | View all news If you have lost a loved one then we are inviting you to dedicate a light on our Christmas tree in memory of that someone special. In the year when we are celebrating our 35th anniversary, we are inviting you [...]

"It's the people that make us special" 28 Oct 2024 | View all news Here from the very start A familiar face at Katharine House Hospice, Norma was one of the original voices campaigning for a hospice for Stafford in the late 1980s. Working as a Neighbourhood Nurse Manager specialising in end-of-life and palliative care, Norma [...]

22 years of caring through cooking 15 Oct 2024 | View all news Our hospice cook, Gary Nicklin, has been caring through cooking at our charity for 22 years. He’s seen a lot of changes over that time. Shortly after he joined us in 2002 he enjoyed meeting His Royal Highness, the Duke of Kent who [...]

Have your say on care for you, your family and community 11 Oct 2024 | View all news Thinking about death and end of life care is often dismissed until the last minute. If you live in Staffordshire or Stoke-on-Trent, then you can have your say on care for you, your family and community now.  Staffordshire [...]

Hundreds join our charity event, Walk to Remember 07 Oct 2024 | View all news More than 550 people joined our charity event, Walk to Remember, on Saturday, 5 October at Shugborough Estate, marking the start of our 35th anniversary. Our first large participation Katharine House Hospice event since Covid saw families, schools, community organisations and [...]

Regional hospice collaborative 24/7 palliative care advice line   04 Oct 2024 | View all news In just six months, our partnership with our neighbouring hospices to provide a regional 24/7 advice phone line has proven invaluable for Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent. Meeting rising palliative care demands The phone line offers out-of-hours support to those with [...]

Congratulations 10k hospice heroes 26 Sept 2024 | View all news 12 runners braved torrential conditions at Stafford's 10k on Sunday, 22 September to raise funds for the charity.  The impressive team was made up of six supporters from the community and six staff from the hospice's Finance, HR, Fundraising and Care teams.  Together they battled [...]

Events mark 35 years of support 05 September 2024 | View all news We're holding four open events to thank the local community for 35 years of unwavering support. Our events will take place in early October, as part of Hospice Care Week. Hospice Care Week is seven days of activities to raise the profile [...]

Win big, care bigger: a chance to win £10,000 in the Local Hospice Lottery Super Draw 06 September 2024 | View all news You could win £10,000 in the next Local Hospice Lottery Super Draw! It takes place on Monday, 30 September, and anyone aged 18 or over can enter. The Local Hospice Lottery is [...]

Nursing expert starts charity trustee role 03 September 2024 | View all news “I want to help Katharine House Hospice continue to grow and thrive.” With a top role at an NHS Trust, Helen Reeves is also a specialist advisor for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Parliamentary Health Ombudsman and contributes to the Royal [...]

Meet the first of our new charity trustees 27 August 2024 | View all news "I want to help ensure that more people can benefit from the services provided by Katharine House Hospice" After skydiving 10,000-feet for our hospice last year, Amanda Brooke is no stranger to a new challenge. As Managing Director of local [...]

Stafford shop sees record sales 09 July 2024 | View all news Our largest shop in Stafford brought in £20,000 in one week.  Our  10,000 sq ft donation centre and shop at St Alban’s Road, recorded the best ever weekly sales in June. This is the highest since opening in 2007. Every pound raised means [...]

Staff walk the walk to raise funds 29 June 2024 | View all news A group of our staff are challenging themselves to scale the Yorkshire Three Peaks to raise money for our charity. The team The intrepid team includes workers from the charity’s Palliative Care Nursing Specialist (PCNS) Team, Hospice at Home Team, Family [...]

Special celebration for our wonderful volunteers 6 June 2024 | View all news We hosted our annual Volunteers’ Evening on Monday, 3 June, which saw almost 100 of our amazing volunteers come together for celebrations including food, drinks and games at The Polish Club in Stafford. The evening recognised the fantastic contributions our volunteers make [...]

Hospice Chaplain receives official licence 17 April 2024 | View all news In a short ceremony this week, we were delighted to welcome The Bishop of Stafford, Matthew Parker; Archdeacon, Megan Smith; and guests from local parishes as well as staff and patients to attend the official licensing of David Clark as our Hospice Chaplain. [...]

Working in charity shops 11 April 2024 | View all news Are you considering volunteering or working in our charity shops? Last year our charity shops raised more than £1.5 million towards care. Helping us to provide free specialist palliative care to 2,041 patients and their families in Stafford and surrounding areas. Our Stoke team [...]

Our Lymphoedema Clinic 29 Feb 2024 | View all news Did you know we run a Lymphoedema Clinic for cancer and non-cancer patients? As 4–8 March 2024 is Lymphoedema Awareness Week, we asked our Lymphoedema Practitioner Mel to share her expertise. Here, she sheds light on the clinic's purpose, the services offered, the specialist equipment, [...]

Hospice Placement Experience 15 Feb 2024 | View all news For a student nurse, practice experience is vital. Have you been allocated a placement in a hospice and wondering what to expect? Donna, a third-year mature nursing student from Staffordshire University, shares her placement experience with us. Interested in a placement with us?Call to speak [...]

Healthcare Assistant to Nursing Associate We’re congratulating Maria Caveney, a long standing member of our heathcare team, who has recently been awarded a Foundation Degree in Nursing and achieved a promotion to Nursing Associate. The course has enabled Maria to undertake complex clinical tasks, help more with medication and better support our nursing team. She’s [...]

Palliative care advice line 24/7, 365 days a year 23 January 2024 | View all news Palliative care advice line now available 24 hours per day, seven days a week A new 24/7 phone line and increase of specialist clinicians will make it easier for patients, relatives, loved ones and health care professionals to access palliative [...]

Stone business support us in a variety of ways 2 Jan 2024 | View all news Stone-based Extramile Digital has been supporting our hospice throughout 2023. The digital marketing company wanted to give back as a business and staff were quick to decide on Katharine House Hospice as their chosen charity. Find out how you [...]

Volunteer provides essential welfare support Volunteer Peter Donnelly, a retired civil servant, is helping our charity make a real difference to patients and families by providing welfare support. Having an incurable illness, cancer or nearing end of life is stressful enough without the added worry of managing finances, additional costs and income.  Peter, who worked [...]

Telemarketing firm answers the call to help thank supporters 18 Dec 2023 | View all news Staff from Stafford based telemarketing specialists, HBMtelemarketing, took a day out from their busy schedule to help our staff and volunteers thank our many supporters for their generosity throughout 2023. Our deputy CEO Lisa Taylor said: “Each year our [...]

First to show sustainability savings 13 Dec 2023 | View all news We’re so proud to be the first charity in the UK to show customers CO₂ savings made for each purchase in our charity shops. We have been trialling this project in all of our stores since August, keeping sustainability at the forefront of [...]

Hundreds attend Light Up a Life service 11 Dec 2023 | View all news Hundreds gathered together to remember lost loved ones for our annual Light Up a Life service on Sunday, 10 December. Each of the Christmas lights were sponsored and shone brightly in memory of someone special. We have been running the appeal [...]

Supporter from Rugeley wins Local Hospice Lottery rollover 04 Dec 2023 | View all news Our latest winner in the Local Hospice Lottery draw is Sandra from Rugeley who landed a rollover prize of £3,000! She is amongst a number of Katharine House Hospice winners drawn recently, and she also has a personal connection to [...]

Nursing Times Workforce Awards Runners Up 22 November 2023| View all news Our Stafford-based charity has been named runner up at the prestigious Nursing Times Workforce Awards 2023. Katharine House Hospice was shortlisted with only three other healthcare organisations nationally. We were nominated for Best UK Employer of the Year for our supportive culture and engagement [...]

Our charity shops raised over £1.5m towards our care 11 Nov 2023 | View all news We turn your unwanted second-hand items into first-class care Our hospice is thanking those who shop and donate at our charity stores after they raised more than £1.5 million towards care last year. We provide vital free palliative care [...]

ZEROplus climb Mount Snowdon 02 Nov 2023 | View all news Stafford business ZEROplus tackled Snowdon for our charity. A team dug out their walking boots, filled their backpacks with energy bars and travelled to Wales to tackle the country’s highest mountain to help fundraise for our hospice. Setting off at 6 am, the team [...]

Your Hospice newsletter autumn 2023 24 Oct 2023 | View all news Our latest newsletter is out now. Your Hospice is a biannual newsletter produced every spring and autumn for people and companies who support our charity. Inside, you’ll find a patient and family story, where Pam says “You couldn’t be in a more caring place”, [...]

Light Up A Life 2023 19 Oct 2023 | View all news Our annual appeal invites families to remember loved ones as well as helping to raise funds for specialist care. It has been part of our charity for more than 20 years, with a service held every December where we dedicate the Christmas lights on [...]

Wedding wishes at the hospice 11 Oct 2023 | View all news It was all hands-on deck sweeping the garden, sorting balloons, spreading confetti and more to get everything ready for a patient's big day and help make it special. One of our patients, Philip, and his partner Yvonne were already set to get married [...]

Celebrating sustainable fashion 6 Oct 2023 | View all news It’s been Second Hand September, Charity Shop Fashion Week and Sustainable Fashion Week so what better time to show how easy and affordable it is to put together fabulous outfits from preloved items. We challenged our retail staff and volunteers to create some great styles [...]

Volunteering with us 6 Oct 2023 | View all news Our volunteers mean so much to us, donating over 41,000 hours of their precious free time week in week out and helping our shops raise more than £1.5 million profit last year. Each week, they help stock around 38,000 items in our shops and man [...]

5K challenge for our Chief Executive 04 Oct 2023 | View all news Our Chief Executive took on a 5k run with his family last week to help raise funds for the hospice. Dr Richard Soulsby has worked at Katharine House Hospice for more than 20 years and saw the Tatton Park 5k as an [...]

Katharine House shortlisted for award 15 Aug 2023 | View all news “It’s a privilege to work for Katharine House. It’s a wonderful community and everybody does such wonderful work. We’re so pleased to be shortlisted for this award.” - Clare Kirkbride, Nurse. Katharine House Hospice has been recognised for our commitment to our staff [...]

Charity Golf Day returns 10 Aug 2023 | View all news Our annual golf day is back and taking place in the beautiful grounds of Brocton Hall Estate this September. Golf Day 2023 will take place on Thursday, 14 September and we are filling the last few spaces now. Brocton Hall Golf Club is an [...]

Hospice Lead Nurse receives Master’s Degree 1 Aug 2023 | View all news Our Hospice Lead Nurse has completed a Master’s Degree which helped guide her to her current role. Carina studied for seven years at Keele University for the Advanced Clinical Practice qualification which she received mid-July. During that time she delved into many [...]

Palliative nursing specialist highly commended in Dignity in Care Awards 19 July 2023 | View all news Our Palliative Nursing Care Specialist team leader, Rachel Agar, received a Dignity in Care award at a glittering ceremony on Tuesday 18 July. Nominated by two families she cares for, Rachel received a highly commended Community Service Dignity [...]

London Marathon runner raised more than £1,500 19 July 2023 | View all news With the London Marathon 2023 complete and entries for 2024 closing, we’ve spoken with a runner who took on the 26.2 mile challenge this year to raise funds for us. James Roberts, who works for Extramile Digital in Stone, got a new [...]

Stafford MP Theo Clarke visits our new Therapy and Wellbeing Centre 12 July 2023 | View all news Our new Therapy and Wellbeing Centre launched in June and offers services to help palliative patients live a better quality of life. Services include complementary therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, lymphoedema care, counselling, spiritual care, family support and more. [...]

Volunteers' celebration evening 5 July 2023 | View all news Around 100 guests attended this year’s Volunteers’ Evening. Once again, our amazing volunteers came together for our annual celebration event at The Polish Club in Stafford. The evening honoured those who make such a difference by dedicating their valuable time and skills to our charity. [...]

Our New Therapy and Wellbeing Service Opens to the Community 19 May 2023 | View all news Therapy and Wellbeing staff welcomed patients and families to our new centre in Stafford today after it was closed for three years. Initially the building was closed because of the pandemic, then extensive renovations to the building and changes [...]

Latest Care Updates Visiting Katharine House Hospice and Business Centre Guidelines To all patients, staff, visitors and contractors. Thank you for your commitment to assisting us in providing safe care to our patients. The health, safety and wellbeing of our patients, their families and staff remains our absolute priority. In line with national Covid restriction [...]

Christmas trees help fund hospice care this Christmas L-R: Lyndsey Howard (Fundraising Coordinator) and Andrea Pugh (Community and Partnerships Fundraiser) from Katharine House Hospice. With the help of the local waste management services team at Veolia (Stafford) and UK Charity Just Helping, Katharine House Hospice is delighted to offer a Christmas Tree Collection service again [...]

Heating firm make donation to help meet rising energy costs Central heating company, Pettinaroli UK, are helping Katharine House Hospice meet rising energy costs this winter with a £1,000 donation towards the hospice’s heating bill. The heating company presented the donation at the launch of the new Pettinaroli UK Academy. The international training centre was [...]

Katharine House Hospice joins forces with Local Hospice Lottery to raise over £1.4million during the next five years Katharine House Hospice are delighted to announce the launch of a brand-new partnership that will significantly increase lottery income for the Hospice over the coming years. In fact, through Katharine House Hospice ceasing their existing lottery and [...]

New Challenges for 2022 Set by Katharine House Hospice Katharine House Hospice are calling on local supporters to help raise funds by taking part in an exciting range of challenges in 2022! All the challenges offer experiences of a lifetime and include a tandem Skydive, Snowdon Sunrise Walk and a charity Mountain Bike Ride around [...]

Katharine House Hospice Launches New Care Strategy Katharine House Hospice has recently undertaken a review of its care services based on the needs of service users. The hospice engaged with staff, volunteers, healthcare professionals, patients, carers, supporters and other members of the public. The review highlighted how the hospice can best meet the needs of [...]

Christmas Raffle 2021: Are You A Winner? Want to see if you’re the lucky winner of the Katharine House Hospice 2021 Christmas Raffle? Today marks the draw of the Hospice’s annual Christmas raffle, which raises much-needed funds to deliver quality hospice care to the people of Mid-Staffordshire. Everyone at Katharine House would like to extend [...]

BBC cover Hospice VR project 22 September 2021 | View all news A recent VR project at Katharine House Hospice received a great deal of interest lately, including a visit by Ben Godfrey from BBC Midlands Today. Ben and a film crew dropped into the hospice on 21 September to meet film maker and project leader [...]

Innovative VR project set to help patients at Katharine House Hospice 6 August 2021 | View all news Day therapies patients at Katharine House Hospice have been fortunate enough to visit some exotic locations recently as part of a virtual reality (VR) project delivered by film maker Ben Malone of community interest company Project Vae. Patients [...]

Our Care Continues Thanks to YOU Katharine House Hospice is able to continue to offer services thanks to the kindness and generosity of local people who have supported our emergency appeal. We are incredibly grateful for the overwhelming response of our local community at our time of need. Our appeal has raised over £850,000 with some [...]