Hospice Care Week 2024: a proper fit for hospice funding

For one week in October, Hospice Care Week shines a spotlight on our brilliant hospices, and their amazing staff. We’ll do this through telling their stories, hearing their voices, campaigning to policymakers, and harnessing the collective power of the hospice sector and its supporters.

But it’s also an opportunity to speak up about the injustices they face, and make change.

We know local communities do incredible things to support their hospices – from donating to shops, to running marathons. But hospices need more support from governments to be able to play their full part in meeting the challenges we face in the UK’s healthcare system.

And right now, that government funding is falling short. For the first time ever, more money has been spent in hospice shops than has been given to hospices by the state. We don't think that’s right. 

Throughout the week, we’ll be celebrating the brilliant contribution of hospice shops to what we do – and highlighting to governments why they should do more.

There are lots of things happening around the UK for Hospice Care Week in 2024:

• Film: we made a film for Hospice Care Week (above), which both celebrates our hospices’ shops, staff and volunteers, and promotes the serious message that more is spent in their shops than hospices receive in government funding.
• News and media: look out for Hospice Care Week stories in local and national newspapers and media – highlighting everything from the quirkiest charity shop donations to the injustice of the hospice funding model.
• Stories: on our website and social media we’ll be sharing stories from hospices’ shops around the UK; from the 102-year-old still doing three days a week, to the person who accidentally donated a hot roast dinner; and the young fashionistas creating high style with a sustainable twist.
• Parliamentary event: we’re taking a hospice shop to the Houses of Parliament in Westminster! On Thursday 10 October, with the fantastic help of St Christopher’s in London, we’ll be talking to MPs about the hospice funding crisis – as they browse some quality pre-loved items.
• Social media: we’ll be posting our film, media mentions, stories and event updates on our social media channels. Follow us on X, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn to read them all – and we’d love if you could like, comment and share to help spread the word about the brilliant work that hospices do.
• Hospice Shop Challenge: we’ve asked hospices if they’d like to decorate their shops with any Hospice Care Week attire, or get a bit more creative – and post photos of what they’ve done on social media. 

There are some really easy ways to get involved with Hospice Care Week – in whatever way works for you.

You could:

• Show your support for your local hospice, by popping into your local hospice shop and picking up a few items
• Simply read one or more of the stories on our website
• Watch the Hospice Care Week film, above
• Share our film, or any of our stories, on your social media networks, or forward to friends and colleagues by email
• Like, comment or share any of our launch social media posts
• Talk to friends, family or colleagues about Hospice Care Week – maybe they’d be keen to support the campaign too!
• Make a donation to Hospice UK in support of Hospice Care Week: by donating, you’re helping fight for hospice care for all, for now and forever.