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Swaffham & Litcham Home Hospice Support Limited, a registered charity, was set up in 1988 because there was little or no palliative care in the immediate local area. From very small beginnings it has developed into an organisation offering free practical and emotional support to patients with a life-threatening or terminal illness allowing them to remain at home in their preferred place of care.

We have a Co-ordinator, 6 staff and aproximately 40 volunteer carers who carry out the day-to-day care and support of patients. There is a volunteer Management Committee, which includes local GPs, and a volunteer Fund-raising Committee.

We are part-funded by NHS Norfolk Primary Care Trust but, to maintain our caring without charge, more than half of our costs (amounting to approximately £60,000 a year) have to be generated by fund-raising and donations.

Referrals come to us from GPs, District Nurses, Macmillan Nurses, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Addenbrookes Hospital, and patients may also self-refer. We are usually able to make an assessment visit within 48 hours and quickly provide any support required.

Our Aims:

The primary aim of the home hospice volunteer is to give emotional and practical support to those who are severely ill or dying and to those who care for them. Our further aims are to:

  • Recognise and understand each person's right and need to be treated as an individual.
  • Accept individuals as they are rather than as a volunteer would wish them to be.
  • Give consideration to the patient's innate dignity to promote personal worth.
  • Recognise and acknowledge patients' rights and needs to make their own decisions.
  • Maintain good communication between team members.
  • Recognise each person's role, worth, and difference in outlook.
  • Maintain confidentiality.