Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cambridge has shared a personal a message of support to mark Children’s Hospice Week, asking everyone to join her in thanking the UK’s 54 children’s hospices for the life-changing care they provide to seriously ill children and families.
Children’s Hospice Week (21-27 June) is organised by Together for Short Lives, the UK charity for seriously ill children and families.Derian House Children’s Hospice is one of the charities joining The Duchess in marking Children’s Hospice Week. The Chorley-based children’s hospice is delighted that The Duchess has sent a special message showing how children’s hospices help seriously ill children and families.
The Duchess thanked children’s hospice staff, and those working in children’s hospices across the UK, for their continued and much-needed lifeline support, especially throughout the pandemic.
Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cambridge, as Royal Patron of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) has seen first-hand the remarkable care children’s hospices provide and her message shines a light on the extraordinary support that they have continued to provide to children and families throughout the pandemic, when they needed it most.
The Duchess has kindly given her support to Children’s Hospice Week since 2013. The impact over many years has been transformational, helping to raise awareness of the needs of seriously ill children and families and to show why they need the care and support of children’s hospices.
Derian House will be celebrating The Duchess’s support for Children’s Hospice Week by sharing some of its family stories and giving people an insight into what children’s hospice care really looks like.
David Robinson, Chief Executive of Derian House, said: “We are thrilled that HRH, The Duchess of Cambridge is helping to raise awareness of services like Derian House by marking Children’s Hospice Week. This week is a celebration of the nation’s 54 hospices for children and the wonderful work they do to help children whose lives are too short. At Derian House, we care for over 400 babies, children and young people with life-limiting conditions from across the North West.
“It costs £5 million per year to run our services and with only 12 per cent of funding coming from the government we rely heavily on our supporters to help us care for local children, making sure they have chance to make happy memories with their families.”
Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cambridge’s message of support for Children’s Hospice Week can be viewed here:
www.togetherforshortlives.org.uk/royalmessage and https://www.each.org.uk/childrens-hospice-week
In an excerpt from the message, The Duchess says: “I hope you will join me this Children’s Hospice Week in thanking the UK’s 54 children’s hospices and their incredible staff for the life-changing care they provide to children and families facing the unimaginable – helping them to make the most of every precious moment together.”
Welcoming The Duchess of Cambridge’s message of support, Andy Fletcher, CEO for Together for Short Lives, the charity behind Children’s Hospice Week said: “The Duchess of Cambridge, as Royal Patron for EACH, is a fantastic ambassador for seriously ill children and their families and the children’s hospices that they rely on. We join The Duchess in thanking children’s hospices for their much-needed lifeline support, especially throughout the pandemic, when families have felt exhausted and pushed to their limits.
“More than ever, families need their children’s hospice to provide the care and time they need make the most of every moment, whether that’s for years, months or only days. The Duchess’s support for Children’s Hospice Week over many years has helped to raise awareness of the needs of seriously children and to show the life-changing care children’s hospice and palliative care services provide to families throughout their child’s life, and vitally at the end of their life, in bereavement and beyond.”
Phil Gormley, CEO for EACH, said: “I am extremely grateful to The Duchess for her active support and advocacy, which is deeply appreciated and valued by both our families and staff.
“We are currently doing everything we can to ensure delivery of our frontline service. The care we deliver is critically important to some of the most vulnerable children in society, and is dependent on the continued support from the people of East Anglia.
“The pandemic has created some significant challenges, including maintaining our voluntary income, but these aren’t insurmountable and we’re genuinely confident of being able to innovate, expand and develop our service in future.”
To find out more about Derian House Children’s Hospice visit www.derianhouse.co.uk
