A HUGE step forward in care for people needing end-of-life care and their families is now available in both the Crediton and Okehampton areas with the launch this week of Hospiscare at Home with a hub in both towns.

Hospiscare at Home is already available to patients in the Exmouth and Budleigh Salterton areas.

With this expansion, the service will be available to patients registered with a GP in Crediton, Okehampton and the surrounding villages and in areas of North Dartmoor.

The specialist service is designed to support patients, their families and carers who need expert end-of-life care 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week in the last weeks of life, and to help them to die peacefully and with dignity at home.

As a charity, Hospiscare relies on fundraising. It faced a drastic drop in income during the pandemic because fundraising activities could not happen plus the closure of 19 of its charity shops as well as a huge increase in the need for its award-winning service.

Communities throughout Devon rallied to the cause and helped to partly close its funding gap. At the same time, a small number of donors made generous gifts specifically to enable the expansion of Hospiscare at Home into these latest areas in response to research into the benefits of dying at home.

Tina Naldrett, Clinical Director at Hospiscare, said: “By expanding our Hospiscare at Home service into the areas around Crediton, Okehampton and North Dartmoor, we will transform the last weeks of life for hundreds of patients and families living in rural areas who are in the last stages of terminal illnesses.”

Hospiscare’s CEO, Andrew Randall, said: “We are indebted to the local communities and local people who make it possible for us to provide our expert end-of-life care to people living with terminal illnesses across more than 1,000 square miles of Devon.

“Hospiscare has been providing our care to the people of Devon for four decades and we are proud and honoured to be able now to help more people when they need it most, thanks to the generosity and kindness of our community.”

The new service will employ a team of nurses and healthcare workers, based in hubs in Okehampton and Crediton, and will support up to 150 patients and families a year. The service began in an initial development phase in April 2022 and aimed to provide 24/7 care 365 days-a-year from this autumn.

Local people in need can access Hospiscare’s services via their GP, hospital or NHS community nursing team.