The charity employs 250 people in total, which includes the shops, the fundraising department, clinical staff and more, head of personnel Jemma Clements told the Times.
Hospice in the Weald offers free-of-charge care to people at the end of life, as well as their families, through a combination of therapy, counselling, ‘outreach’ visits, care in the Cottage Hospice at Five Ashes, and soon a children’s service.
It covers the West Kent and northern East Sussex area.
“People quite often don’t know what a hospice is. We try and see patients in their last year of life. It can be longer because of the hospice outreach service, for homes and care homes,” said Jemma.
The Living Well service also offers therapies such as art or music for those who have a terminal diagnosis.
“We can make a really meaningful difference at that crucial time. Our motto is ‘celebrating life and dignifying death’,” she added. “We want to see as many people as early as possible.”
The organisation’s retention and recruitment efforts feed into the way it cares for patients, while the care itself benefits the staff, she said, explaining: “Our nursing staff have lots of time to spend with patients. We have really good ratios so we can spend quality time and do holistic wraparound care.
“The Living Well service also offers therapies such as art or music for those who have a terminal diagnosis.”
“We have run quite a few recruitment campaigns. We say: ‘Nursing as it should be.’”
Human contact and job satisfaction had been particularly pertinent during the pandemic period, which saw severe restrictions on hospitals, nursing homes and other clinical locations.
“We cut down on visits the inpatient ward (at the Hospice) in Pembury, but at no point did we cut visitors completely.
“Family and friends are an important part of the care we give,” she said, pointing to the Cottage Hospice, where families move in to provide care near the end of life, while having nursing staff at hand.
“That allows family to keep connected.”
Meanwhile, in the face of the cost-of-living crisis, the Hospice in the Weald strives to hold its own, said Jemma.
“We stay competitive with the NHS, and benchmark ourselves on that.
“We are quite steady as an organisation. When people come to work for us, they really want to work for us. We are different from the NHS.”
And the results speak for themselves, she said.
“We want people to build a long-term career with us. We recruit all sorts, and quite a few have been with us really long-term.”
The Hospice is now launching a children’s service, to help children and their families who might have previously travelled to London.
The new service will provide support through home visits, counselling for parents and siblings, and is developing a children’s centre with specialist play and sensory rooms
