Kent Ambassadors visit ellenor during Hospice Care Week

A group of 20 Kent Ambassadors visited ellenor Gravesend on Tuesday 4 October to discover more about what the hospice charity does and the support it gives more than 2000 Kent families each year.

Their visit came during the national awareness week - Hospice Care Week - and among those Kent Ambassadors who visited the hospice was The Rt Hon Lord Howard of Lympne CH QC, who is also chair of the board of trustees at Hospice UK, and Amanda Cottrell OBE. Others who attended included Lord Alastair Colgrain, Lady Tess Bruce-Lockhart, Sonja Wood and Alastair Jessel.

The Kent Ambassadors are a group of highly successful and experienced people who either live or work in Kent and who have come together, by invitation, in a voluntary arrangement to help all aspects of life in Kent.

The group were able to meet with some of the team at ellenor, including Mo Tutty, Chair of the Board of Trustees at ellenor; Claire Cardy, Chief Executive; Jacquie Hackett, Director of Patient Care; and Rachel Holweger, Director of Fundraising, as well as being shown round the hospice building.

The theme of Hospice Care Week this year is ‘hospice care is…’ and the group discovered that at ellenor hospice care means supporting the whole family and taking care out into the community, with 90% of the care which ellenor provides in the home.

“It was an absolute honour to welcome the Kent Ambassadors to ellenor - particularly during Hospice Care Week,” said Claire Cardy. “They seemed to really appreciate the opportunity to hear about the work we do at ellenor and recognised the impact we are making in this county providing care to families facing terminal illness across North and South West Kent.”

Lord Howard said he planned to use his experience of visiting ellenor Gravesend in an address he is giving in the House of Lords this week to highlight the key role hospices play in UK life.