St Elizabeth Hospice
St Elizabeth Hospice care for patients with active, progressive and advanced illness, for whom the focus of care
is quality of life.
They aim to provide relief from pain and other distressing symptoms and offer comprehensive support to
help family and carers cope during a patient's illness.
In the late 70's and early 80's there were discussions about establishing a Hospice in East Suffolk. It became apparent that
Health Authority finances at that time could not fund a Hospice and an Appeal Committee was formed, with a public launch in
1983.
An initial target of £1million was set and visits to other hospices in various parts of the country followed and by 1987 the
target had been met, talks held with a local architect and a scheme produced. A competition in the local press resulted in
the name St Elizabeth being chosen.
Building began in May 1988 with the Duchess of Norfolk laying the foundation stone in July 1988. The building programme was
completed in the summer of 1989 and when the first patients were admitted on 1st November that year, the building and
equipment and furnishings were all paid for. HRH the Princess Royal officially opened the building on 5th December 1989.
Although built for 20 beds, it was decided to initially open with 10, being 2 wards of four beds each and 2 single rooms.
Later 2 more single rooms were opened and in June 1990 our Day Centre was opened for 8 patients each day. In the following
years a further four bedded bay was opened, complementary therapies and out-patients clinics were introduced. By 1997 we
had introduced a Family Support Service and extended our Day Centre building to take 12 patients per day. Former Ipswich
Town and England Manager Bobby Robson, opened the new Day Centre in October 1997.
After our tenth anniversary in November 1999, plans to extend the building were put into effect and a year long building
plan began in January 2000. Two larger single rooms were opened and the existing four extended to include their own en-suite
facilities and ceiling mounted hoists. The four bedded wards were refurbished and piped oxygen installed to every bed, much
needed after 11 years, and a purpose built education centre was added together with another area for staff such as The
Director of Patient Care, The Family Support Team and Chaplain, and Hospice at Home.
Thus the present day building includes provision for 18 in-patients and 12 day patients at any one time, plus facilities
for out-patients clinics to see Doctors, Physiotherapists, and Complementary Therapists. Hospice at Home is growing all
the time with a team on call 24hours a day to work with GP's, District Nurses, Macmillan and Marie Curie Nurses, to help
patients stay at home in the last stages of illness if that is what they and their family wish. The Education Centre
provides much needed ongoing training for our own staff as well as nurses and doctors in the community.
While the majority of patients are suffering from cancer, the Hospice occasionally cares for those with other conditions,
such as AIDS, Motor Neurone Disease, and end stage cardiac and renal failure.
The Hospice started as an act of faith and it will always be so. There is satisfaction and encouragement in seeing all that
the Hospice has achieved in a relatively short time, but none of it could have happened without the magnificent help which
comes to us from the local community. But it is a continual up hill struggle to keep the work of the Hospice before the
public and to raise sufficient funds. With running costs of £2.7 million today, around 40% of this figure is met from
Government funds, we still go to the community for approximately £1.7 million or £4,657 per day.
