Bedfordshire
Grants to charities, Hospices
Partnership with Hospice UK expands care outreach to homeless communities
Currently, one in 64 people in Luton are experiencing homelessness, placing it just behind London on a national scale, and ahead of many larger cities in the UK.
According to Hospice UK’s 2021 report, homelessness significantly impacts access to hospice services. The unique experiences, beliefs, and needs of homeless individuals differ vastly from the general population, creating a considerable barrier to care.
The issue is compounded by Luton’s highly diverse community, where over 180 languages are spoken. This diversity presents challenges in accessing essential support services, particularly for those facing severe health issues.
Our charity partnership with Hospice UK aims to fund an inclusive programme that provides palliative and end-of-life care to people from low socio-economic backgrounds across England and Wales. Mark Pedder, an Inclusive Health Palliative Clinical Nurse Specialist at Keech Hospice Care in Bedfordshire, is spearheading the project to bring hospice services directly to those experiencing homelessness.
Through his work, Mark is uncovering the numerous obstacles that this community faces in accessing hospice care in Luton and Bedfordshire, with the goal of ensuring that those who need help can finally receive it.
Keech Hospice Care has a unique vision for palliative and end-of-life care, where they believe a hospice should be more than a fixed physical place, and care is brought directly to people in their community.
A common misconception about hospice care is that it only provides end-of-life care. In reality, hospice care encompasses much more:
Chasing appointments when you’re ill, trying to get through to a GP, trying to get to the hospital – are things that you or I would just be able to do. What we forget are all of the other pressures, like the finances, that someone’s going to be able to manage to get to the hospital, or the travel costs.
Advocating for individuals with complex needs goes beyond managing symptoms. Missing an appointment because of transportation issues can have a ripple effect, preventing vital treatment from being accessed.
Hospice care requires a multi-sector approach, engaging hostel, social, addiction, and harm-reduction workers who have built relationships with the homeless and vulnerably housed. These workers offer valuable insights into the needs of those they support and can serve as trusted gateways into services.
However, staff may be overburdened and under-equipped or require practical and emotional support in helping facilitate care at the end of life.
I think quite often we take it for granted that everybody can access care the same way that we can. And of course that’s not the case. So we owe it to our community. We’ve got a multi-diverse community that has all of this support around them, but they probably don’t know it’s there. They’ve never needed it…or just haven’t been told about it.
Mark believes that a significant part of the issue is that many people simply aren’t aware that hospice services are available and may avoid seeking help until it’s too late.
Both palliative care and homelessness have their own complexities. These are two really vulnerable areas and then they’re coming together and compounding. A guiding principle of palliative care has always been that it’s for everyone, regardless of who they are or where they come from. So, when you see someone with their palliative condition, you’ll see them as a person and you’ll see how best to help them.
The hospice outreach service project is a brand-new concept in the community across Luton, Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes, which Mark hopes will start the process of inspiring other healthcare organisations to consider all aspects of hospice care.
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The MCF has a long-standing, £600,000 per year partnership with Hospice UK, working in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, read more about the programme: https://mcf.org.uk/get-support/grants-to-charities/partnership-programmes/
