Hospice Care in Focus: Promoting equality

Through our partnership with the Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF, the Freemasons’ charity), St Luke's Hospice in Winsford received £22,000 towards promoting equality and increasing accessibility to Cheshire hospices for the LGBT+ community.

How the grant makes a difference

The project, funded through Hospice UK's partnership with Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF, the Freemasons’ charity), supports work across three Cheshire hospices: St Luke's Hospice in Winsford, Hospice of the Good Shepherd in Chester and East Cheshire Hospice in Macclesfield.

With the goal of tackling inequalities, increasing accessibility and fighting discrimination and exclusion, the need for this project grew from conversations around ensuring that the three hospices proactively engage and support LGBT+ people who access or experience end of life care.

The funding provided allowed the hospices to hire an LGBT+ Facilitator, Ellen Coleman, to work across the three hospices, making positive changes on an organisational level and building connections within the wider Cheshire community.

How the role works

The introduction of this role has seen changes in staff training and policy across the three hospices, from the forms that are used by patients and visitors, to helping the wider hospice group understand inclusive language.

Through resources, training and conversation, the LGBT+ Facilitator role works to support staff and build a confident culture of inclusivity and open and honest conversations with other members of staff, patients and visitors.

Another key pillar of the role is engagement with the LGBT+ community, which has allowed the hospices to build connections with Chester Pride, who are supporting the hospices in becoming more LGBT+ inclusive. They are also helping to embed the community’s voice into the development process, ensuring that feedback is heard and acted upon.

The long term goal of the project is to tackle the inequalities faced by LGBT+ people when receiving end of life care, ensuring that people do not perceive hospices as a place they cannot access.

By working to remove those barriers and ensuring that positive changes are made, the three Cheshire hospices are confident that the impact of this role will last well beyond the initial 12 months of funding.