“Without Sheffield people there would be no St Luke’s”

St Luke’s may be a much loved Sheffield charity but as recently as ten years ago we were a well-loved charity running almost on empty, our building no longer fit for purpose and our finances running perilously low.

It was at that point that we decided we had to do something to save St Luke’s for future generations, ensuring that our standards of care – the one thing never in question – were not only maintained but also improved.

We spent nearly five years fundraising and then creating our beautiful In Patient Centre, a place that is now once more leading the way in palliative care.

We also transformed ourselves into a truly community-focused charity, taking the St Luke’s standards of care out and across the city. Around 1,500 of the over 1,800 patients we see every year now receive our support in their own homes. So we’re now able to help more people than ever before – an increase of over 50 per cent in the past decade.

That level of commitment was celebrated when we were rated Outstanding by the CQC - the independent regulator of all health and social care services in England – in January 2017.

Our Active Intervention Centre now provides specialist palliative day care to help patients maintain function and independence as well as supporting them with physical, psychological, emotional and social issues associated with terminal illness.

And let’s not forget Clifford House, our latest venture – a new centre created to meet and support the needs of the wider community of people affected by illnesses with no cure.

It costs £1,160 per hour to run all of St Luke’s services, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year – a total running cost of £10 million, of which we need to raise £7.5 million ourselves. Remember that all of our services are delivered free of charge to patients.

And it really would not be possible to raise that enormous amount of money without the support of the people of Sheffield.

One of the great joys of 2019 was seeing our wonderful St Luke’s volunteers being recognised with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service is the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK and recognises the St Luke’s volunteers who give over 116,000 hours of their time each year, helping to deliver the best possible care to patients and their families.

Those 700 plus volunteers – aged from just 14 to 94 – take part in a wide range of activities including fundraising, patient transport, bereavement counselling, recording life histories, being patient companions, delivering food parcels, tending the hospice’s gardens and providing vital support in the award winning chain of 14 St Luke’s shops across the city.

They also helped us to provide nearly 7,000 sessions of supportive activities last year at both St Luke’s and at Clifford House.

And their enthusiasm, effort and imagination helps us to raise the vital income we need, through our fantastically supported shops as well as at events like Night Strider, Festival of Light, Celebration of Life and many, many more each year.

Without them there would be no St Luke’s and we look forward to seeing that relationship grow as we approach a landmark point in the St Luke’s story.

The year 2021 will see St Luke’s celebrating its 50 anniversary, half a century of care and support for the people of Sheffield.

It will be a year of celebration around Sheffield, thanking those who helped to create St Luke’s, and those who have sustained it. We have some very some very special occasions in the planning, and we will be telling you about them soon.

We want you to be a part of those celebrations because without you there really would be no St Luke’s.

Caring for those in need is at the heart of everything we do but that quality of care can only be achieved through the support, dedication and compassion our of employees and volunteers as well as our committed supporters and generous donors.

On behalf of everyone St Luke’s has helped, and the team here, I’d like to say a heartfelt and special thank you to everyone in Sheffield – and wish you the Christmas you hope for yourselves.