Our Strategy has been developed through community engagement, a review of palliative and end of life care in mid Essex and consideration of the pressures facing our hospice and the wider healthcare system.
In mid Essex, nearly 4,000 people die each year and more than 10,500 are thought to be in the last year of life. Research, however, shows that around a third of people never receive the palliative support they need. Barriers to accessing care include poor recognition that someone is approaching the last months or days of life; a lack of knowledge of available services; and health inequalities due to factors such as cultural background, a non-cancer diagnosis or even where a person lives. From our own experience, we know that too often, referrals come late, leaving little time to make as much of a positive difference as we know is possible.
As part of our strategic planning, we carried out our ‘Have Your Say’ Consultation last summer, to engage our community in a conversation about hospice care and understand what matters most to them. From the feedback, several themes emerged. People told us they want earlier access to hospice support; better planning for future care; holistic services that enable the person and their family to improve their wellbeing; hospice services that enable people to be cared for at home or in the Inpatient Unit; improved community knowledge about our services; and partnership working with other organisations to deliver the best care.
Taking these themes and our knowledge of end of life care in our local community, we have developed a revised Care Model which will guide the development of our clinical services for the next three years. Our new Care Model reflects our commitment to ensuring people receive the right care, at the right time, by the right people. It focuses on supporting people diagnosed with a life limiting illness, and their loved ones, much earlier in their journey and working collaboratively with other care providers and our community, to ensure that they receive high quality care.
Our new strategy has been developed alongside our new Care Model, with the aim of building a stronger, more sustainable Farleigh Hospice that can care for more people, earlier, offer more choice and continue to provide comfort and dignity to people at the end of their lives.
Our full strategy and revised care model will be available to view from 11 May 2026.