Havens Hospices is a charity which runs hospice services in Essex. It is intended to support and provide palliative care to babies, children, young adults and adults. Havens Hospices offers community based support to families in Essex and runs three hospice services: Fair Havens Hospice, Little Havens Hospice and The J’s Hospice. 75% of the people who work at Havens Hospices are volunteers.
History
It opened in Westcliff-on-Sea on June 13 1983 and cared for 25,000 adults across Southend, Rochford, and Castle Point between 1983 and 2018.
Scope of Work
In April 2017 The J’s Hospice officially joined Havens Hospices.. Fair Havens provide specialist care for adults, from the age of 19, with life-limiting illnesses. Little Havens cares for children or young people with life-limiting or life-threatening condition. Little Havens is the only place in Essex totally dedicated to caring for children and young people with life limiting illnesses. The J’s Hospice cares for people aged 16-40 with life limiting conditions and their families, they are a unique service in Essex as they care in the patients own home or community. Havens Hospices offer the following care options: Planned respite care, Emergency end of life care, Symptom Management, Post bereavement care and Emergency Respite.
Patrons and Ambassadors
is one of its patrons. Sophie Austin became a patron for Little Havens Hospices during 2018.. Rudolph Walker is also patron for Havens Hospices.
New Fair Havens Hospice
In Prittlewell Southend they are building a new Fair Havens Hospice which will have a 16 bed in patient unit, a day hospice, family support, wellbeing and charity administrative spaces because of an increase in the number of patients requiring palliative care in the area. It will cost £17.2 million. They have been turning away an average of 11 people every month because there were not sufficient beds. On Friday February, after 65 weeks construction, the new Fair Havens Hospice was finished and the £17.2 million facility was officially handed over to Chief Executive of Havens Hospices, Steve Smith, marking a new era for hospice care for people in South East Essex. It took the organisation four years to secure planning permission.
Shops
The Havens Hospices Charity Shops are important for their fundraising, their branches cover a large part of south and mid-Essex. They opened a charity shop in Basildon, Southernhay, during 2015. In 2019 Havens Hospices launched a Summer Campaign across the county having collaborated with South Essex Collegefashion students.
Legacy
Daphne Hall, who was one of the founders of Fair Havens Hospice and Little Havens Hospice was awarded an MBE in 1998 for her work.
Fundraising
Notable events for the charity include the Southend Half Marathon, a 13.1 mile route in Southend-on-Sea , Pedal for The J's and the annual Havens to Havens Walk The charity has a team representing it at the London Marathon, which raised a total of £200,000 in 2019
