Summer news

When Francis House opened in 1991 it was the only children’s hospice to the West of the Pennines and North of Birmingham. 

As other hospices opened, our catchment area reduced in size; however the last two years has seen a reduction in service in many children’s hospices and statutory services, and as a consequence young people and their families are travelling significant distances once again to use our services.

Francis House has adapted and developed care in order to give the best possible support to the families struggling to keep their sick children safe.

One of the ways we have achieved this is through the development of our Homecare team.  As we recruit more nurses, we will endeavour to expand the team to give more home support. Our aim is eventually to be able to offer support in providing end of life care in the young person’s home, if that is what the family choose.

Our eagerness to achieve this is hampered by the national shortage of Registered Nurses – something that limits health care in this country in so many ways – but to have additional nurses on the team also means increasing our income.

We are so grateful to all our loyal and committed followers who have helped us to keep Francis House operating over the last two years.  To us, you are all ‘frontline workers’.

It has been a great sadness that we have not been able to hold our Open Days during the pandemic, and so we are really pleased to announce that our first Open Day post COVID will take place on Saturday 5th November 2022.  We hope to see as many of you as possible, so please book the date in your diary.

In our Articles of Association, it says that we are funded for the purpose of “caring for children and young people with a life limiting illness and the support of their families” but Francis House is so much more and affects the community in so many ways.

The common cause of supporting families in the worst possible situations brings out the best of everyone associated with the charity.  The opportunity to give selflessly in order to relieve suffering, to show acts of love to people you might never meet, and to enjoy activities with diverse groups of people, all make the world a better place.