Exciting step for hospice

At Chestnut Tree House, every decision we make and every action we take has children and families at heart.

The children’s hospice sector is relatively young, and in the 21 years since we opened, we have seen significant changes. Medical advances mean that the children and young people we care for are living much longer, but often with more complex symptoms.

That means we’ve had to change the way we deliver our care, making it a priority to ensure that young people who are outgrowing Chestnut’s care have access to excellent support as they transition to adult services.

We have made it a priority to nurture relationships with adult hospices. You may know that we already have a sister hospice, St Barnabas House in Worthing. This week, we announced a merger between St Barnabas Hospices and Martlets – the hospice for Brighton and Hove. In doing so we aim to create a stronger, more sustainable, and comprehensive hospice care organisation that is committed to delivering outstanding patient care across the communities. This exciting step means that we’ll benefit from the collective strengths and expertise of all three hospices. We’ll all retain our existing names and identities but will be run by a group leadership team, which will be put in place imminently.

This is a significant milestone in the sector, which will help provide sustainable hospice care for the future. We believe we are better together and look forward to building a stronger foundation for compassionate palliative and end-of-life care in our communities.

For more information, go to www. chestnut.org.uk/news