At Prospect Hospice, we provide outstanding, personalised and compassionate care for everyone in Swindon, Marlborough and the surrounding areas affected by a life-limiting illness, completely free of charge. For more than 40 years, we’ve been a dedicated, non-hospital, end-of-life care service for patients and their loved ones - around the clock, every day of the year. Our mission is to ensure that anyone can access the best possible expert care whenever and wherever they need it – whether at the hospice or in their own home. As a charity, we only exist because of the generosity and support of our amazing local community.
Find out about the range of end-of-life care services that we offer to patients and their families. These delivered free of charge and are designed to provide compassionate, personalised support during every stage of a life-limiting illness in every kind of care setting, to anyone who needs it.
We couldn’t do what we do without considerable support from our local community. Find out all the different ways in which you can support Prospect Hospice, including fundraising, volunteering and purchasing from our shops. All contributions are greatly appreciated and enables us to deliver care that is free of charge to our patients and their families.
Our café sits at the heart of our hospice in Wroughton and serves a range of delicious home cooked meals to suit all tastes. Whether you're looking to catch up with friends over lunch or relax with coffee and cake, our Heart of the Hospice café has you covered.
Whether shopping with us in person or online, or donating your pre-loved goods, we thank you for supporting us through our shops where you help to raise around £2million a year for Prospect Hospice.
We pride ourselves on being a great place to work and we're always looking for outstanding people to join our team at the hospice across all areas of the charity.
Prospect Hospice is the leading provider of education and training for end-of-life care in Swindon and north Wiltshire. Working closely with you, our colleagues within partner organisations, we want to ensure that the very best care is available to everyone facing the end of life. This is why we provide education and development opportunities, all of which aim to encourage learning and build confidence in end of life care and support.
As the new government gets to work and announces a new budget, hospices are in crisis. Costs are rising, funding has stalled, demand for care is growing. Now services are being cut. We estimate that the rise in employer National Insurance contributions will cost us over £200,000 a year. This is not sustainable.
Your voice matters, take action today:
Hospices are facing intense financial pressure. As costs have surged, local communities are doing their best to step up, but this isn’t enough.
The modest amounts of state funding that hospices receive have not kept pace. And now the state of the hospice sector’s finances is the worst it’s been for 20 years.
With hundreds of new MPs and a new government in place, we’re urging you and other hospice supporters like you to write to their new MP to show them how much hospice care matters. The new government must understand that something needs to change.
Email your MP now. You can find the email address for your MP here. We’ve written the message for you. All you need to do is copy and paste it into a new email, add your details and press send. This simple action could make all the difference to the future of Prospect Hospice, and others like us across England.
Dear (insert name of your local MP),
I’m a supporter of Prospect Hospice, a charity delivering essential end-of-life care to local people in Swindon, Marlborough, and northeast Wiltshire. I am deeply concerned to hear that, like hospices across England, the vital services they provide are under threat because their income is not rising in line with the growing need for their services locally.
A reality without hospices is unthinkable, but the future of Prospect Hospice is more uncertain than ever. Hospice UK’s new research finds at least 20% of UK hospices have already cut services in the last year or are planning to.
It’s incredibly frustrating to see hospice care suffer due to a lack of funding. Prospect Hospice had to reduce the number of beds in its inpatient unit to six, despite having room for 12. This decision isn’t enough, as it still faces a £1 million deficit. The need for its palliative and end-of-life care is growing, while funding is dwindling, creating an unsustainable situation.
The recent budget announcement regarding the increase in National Insurance contributions for employers will add further pressure, with Prospect Hospice estimating an additional £200,000 in yearly costs as a result. This places even more strain on an already tight budget, intensifying the challenge of maintaining current services and meeting the rising demand for care.
Reduced hospice services mean tough decisions about who qualifies for care, potentially leaving more people without the specialised support they deserve. Families might struggle to manage a loved one’s pain at home, and patients could miss out on emotional support during their final days. The knock-on effect on already overstretched NHS services would be catastrophic, depriving people of the chance for a good death, surrounded by loved ones in their chosen environment.
I’m joining Hospice UK’s call on the public to write to you, highlighting the critical financial situation of hospices and urging the new government for support.
Many thanks for your support with this important matter,
(insert your postcode)