THIS year Hospiscare in Mid Devon has supported an amazing 2,254 patients – not to mention their families and friends.

It’s an impressive number but what really counts is how we look after our patients, their families and friends.

A Mid Devon family, whose son attended our Pine Lodge Day Hospice in Tiverton, was also looked after by our community nurses, as well as spending time at our hospice, said: “What Hospiscare staff did for our son was fantastic, they were absolutely brilliant. We would not have coped without them.”

We are a local charity operating in East Devon, Exeter and Mid Devon. During 2015 we held a tea party to celebrate the Hospiscare Tiverton Support Group raising an amazing £250,000 in seven years.

The volunteer group helps Hospiscare provide free professional help and support to people in Mid Devon living with a life-limiting illness.

During 2015 we welcomed Amanda who joined the Mid Devon team as a development clinical nurse specialist. Her post is new and is part of our plan to provide a career pathway for registered nurses wanting to become expert nurses in our field.

Our workforce strategy also recognises the national shortage of nurses and helps us to plan for the future, recruit and train new staff and create a sustainable workforce. Amanda joins two others in similar posts working in Exeter.

For a second year running our wonderful gardens at Pine Lodge were given an award.

Our Open Gardens events this year raised a fantastic £24,500 with 50 gardens opening during the summer.

As ever, all our fundraisers have been working hard in Mid Devon and we are grateful to you for supporting all our many fundraisers.

As I write we are busy planning a brand new event in the Mid Devon area, which will support our local services in Mid Devon, including Pine Lodge.

During 2015 we opened Kings House in Honiton, our new day hospice in East Devon and we are thrilled with the continued support of the local community to provide this service.

Also, with the help of a grant we have introduced a new team of volunteers called care navigators in East Devon. These volunteers work with patients and families to provide friendship and help them find their way around the local health system.

The scheme has been so successful we plan to extend it to Exeter and Mid Devon next year.

During 2015 we modernised our logo and branding and we named the Exeter hospice, Searle House. To top it all we were awarded the accolade of Charity of the Year by the Express and Echo!

Running a charity is not without its challenges and some of you might have noticed our website has been temporarily replaced by a holding page.

This was the result of a supplier unexpectedly going out of business but the good news is that we have a new site under construction that will be up and running by the end of February, 2016.

So what are our plans for 2016? We want to develop the hospice at home scheme that we run in partnership with Seaton League of Friends and extend it to more areas.

We are changing our day services to provide opportunities for more patients and carers to benefit from our fabulous facilities and we will be recruiting more volunteer care navigators.

And finally, exciting news, we have a new vice president, Rev Dame Sarah Mullally, Suffragan Bishop of Crediton.

Bishop Sarah visited Searle House in October and we were delighted when she accepted an invitation to join us as a vice president. She has a distinguished background in nursing being appointed the government’s Chief Nursing Officer in 1999.

So a busy year but as always incredibly rewarding. Thank you again for helping us to make every day count for people with a terminal illness, their families and carers.

With my very best wishes to “Crediton Courier” readers for a peaceful New Year.

Glynis Atherton

Hospiscare Chief Executive