St Elizabeth Hospice is an independent Suffolk charity, which every year delivers care to over 4,000 patients and their families who are living with a progressive or life-limiting illness.
Our care is given across East, Mid-Suffolk & into Great Yarmouth and Waveney.
The majority our care is given in people’s homes or community settings and is entirely free.
St Elizabeth Hospice services cost around £12million to facilitate each year, with the charity raising 70% of funds via revenue streams and the generosity of the community through support of its retail shops and fundraising activities.
Since 2015, we launched Zest – our young adult service which supports those aged 14 and above with progressive & incurable illnesses. We work closely with children’s hospice services to ensure young adults have a smooth transition into adult care, tailored treatment and services they need to be able to enjoy life to the full.
We’ve been providing services in Great Yarmouth and Waveney since 2019, in partnership with East Coast Community Healthcare. In 2023, our services in Great Yarmouth and Waveney merged with the organisation East Coast Hospice. We have specialist palliative care beds at Beccles Hospital as well as support in the community in people’s homes.
At St Elizabeth Hospice, we have four core values:
In 1983, a public fundraising appeal was launched with the aim of raising £1million to establish a hospice in East Suffolk.
Members of the appeal committee visited other hospices to inspire ideas for the building and understand the services needed for the local community.
In 1987, the committee’s determination, along with the amazing support and generosity of local people, paid off and fundraising target was met.
After a competition in a local paper, we chose the name St Elizabeth Hospice – named after St Elizabeth of Thuringia, known for her kindness to the less fortunate and devotion to the poor and sick.
Building work began in May 1988, with the Duchess of Norfolk laying the foundation stone two months later.
We began treating individuals on the 1 November 1989 and HRH the Princess Royal officially opened the building on the 5 December that year.
Opening with 10 beds in June 1990, we expanded to offer a Day Care service, accommodating 8 patients a day. In 1997, former Ipswich Town Football Club & England Manager, Sir Bobby Robson, opened the new purpose built Day Centre which allowed for more patient care.
The Day Care service saw expansions and renovations to the building in 2007, 2008 and 2015. This part of the hospice building has since transformed into the Community Care Unit in 2021 and is used a facility for Zest Short Breaks to support young adults living with incurable illnesses.
Community Care Units now operate in Ipswich, Beccles, Gorleston, Martham and Halesworth.
Refurbishments of the Inpatient Unit took place in 2000 & 2011, which now offers 18 beds.
In 2019, we expanded services to reach patients in Great Yarmouth and Waveney, working with East Coast Community Healthcare to provide specialist palliative care services at Beccles Hospital & in people’s homes.
70% of our hospice costs have to be raised by us, 30% comes from services commissioned by the NHS.
This means that we rely on the generosity of our local community to help fund services for today, tomorrow and into the future.
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