Hospice revamp plans boosted by win

A leading London hospice is celebrating after winning building materials to improve its facilities.

The famous St Christopher’s Hospice in Sydenham has secured £500 to spend at Selco Builders Warehouse through our Community Heroes campaign.

And the hospice – which has been credited as a significant influence on modern global hospice philosophy - will also be one of 12 finalists gunning for the top prize of £5,000 in cash when a public vote opens shortly.

John Vickers, Director of Finance and Corporate Services at St Christopher's, said: “We are very grateful to Selco for their tremendous support. Every donation we receive makes a difference to the people we care for.

“We deliver vital end of life care services to over 6,000 people in our local community each year.

“We are currently refurbishing our inpatient unit, which offers 24/7 care and had 650 patients last year.

“We are making the wards more dementia-friendly with colour-coding, call alarms, increased space, storage units and improved lighting. It’s all about creating a more welcoming and less clinical environment.

“We will be pushing hard to win the top prize when the voting opens soon.”

There were almost 2,000 entries to Community Heroes this year.

Simon Humpage, Head of Multi-Channel Marketing at Selco, said: “Community Heroes continues to go from strength to strength and it is always extraordinarily difficult to select our 12 finalists.

“St Christopher’s stood out due to the huge number of people it supports and its commitment to constant improvement. It’s a privilege to be able to help such a good cause.

“We are looking forward to the Community Heroes voting process starting soon and to finding out who will be our 2024 champion.”