Eden Valley Hospice celebrates 18 years of
‘Sharing the Caring’
in 2009.

Eden Valley Hospice cares for patients, both adult and children, from the Cumbria and South West Scotland area with life-limiting illnesses including cancer, and other conditions such as motor neurone disease, muscular dystrophy and multiple sclerosis, heart failure, chronic lung diseases, renal failure and chronic neurological conditions. We strive to provide the highest standards of nursing and medical care, to sustain quality of life and dignity and to provide patients with relief from pain.  (Palliative care)

To the families, friends and carers of our patients we extend the same loving support, help and counselling, as such illnesses affect whole families.

The Hospice operates as a 12 bedded adult in-patient unit, a 5 bedded Children's Hospice as well as providing  day hospice care for adults and children / young people. The Hospice helps its patients enjoy a better quality of life, often enabling them to do things which they thought had gone forever. It is not just a place where people go to die: many benefit from day hospice care and others return home following a period as an in-patient or attend our out-patients clinics.

Since opening in 1991, over 5,000 people have directly benefited from the care and support we are able to provide. In 2008 there were 264 admissions to the adult in-patient unit, 53% of these for symptom control, 19% for respite and 29% for end of life care.

The annual cost of providing the service we offer is now some £2.7Million, about 25% of which is provided by the local NHS leaving us the challenge of finding £1.95m a year to sustain the hospice.

Located on the south side of Carlisle the hospice came into being to meet an unmet need in 1991 after many years fundraising by individuals and organisations, such as the Rotary Club of Carlisle. The hospice and grounds provide a restful, smoke free environment

As with most voluntary hospices, our purpose, as our Mission Statement says, is “to provide specialist palliative care for people with incurable or life limiting illnesses, enabling them and their carers to live life as fully and independently as possible”

Initially, the hospice provided adult day care only, following which inpatient beds were commissioned. A small children’s hospice opened in 2000 with 2 overnight beds and day care, although the overnight stay facility had to close subsequently for financial and staffing reasons until the Appeal raised funds for an expanded service and the Eden House development which became operational in December 2007 to provide full children’s hospice facilities with 5 beds

Click here to view our general information leaflet.

Legal Information

Eden Valley Hospice is a company limited by guarantee registered in England No 2677824. Registered office Durdar Road, Carlisle CA2 4SD. A Registered Charity No.1008796

The Hospice Lottery and the activities of our charity shops are operated by Eden Valley Hospice (Shops) Limited, Registered Office Durdar Road Carlisle CA2 4SD. Registered in England & Wales No 2727939. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eden Valley Hospice and all profits from the company are gifted to Eden Valley Hospice.

The Hospice Lottery is registered with the Gambling Commission under the lotteries and amusements act 1976 and the Gambling Act 2005. Promoter Mr Paul Cookson at the Hospice Address. Players in the lottery must be over 16 years of age.

Palliative care is linked synonymously with the hospice movement, because historically this is where it began, at St Christopher's Hospice in London in 1967. But over three decades later, palliative care is provided within most healthcare settings to a greater or lesser degree.

The word palliative is derived from the latin word 'pallum' meaning to cloak, in other words symptoms are eased but the underlying condition is not cured. The ethos of palliative care is centred around maximising a person's quality of life. This can be achieved in a variety of ways, by effective symptom control, by offering psychological support, or by providing respite care to name but a few.

The most important of all, however, is by truly allowing someone to be themselves at what can be an extremely difficult time in their lives. Palliative care strives to acknowledge the whole person - addressing all problems within different aspects of their life. This requires a multi-disciplinary approach where the skills of healthcare professionals are pooled and utilised as necessary.

Flexibility is the key to providing an appropriate service for the needs of the community - most hospices try to achieve this by having both day-care and in-patient facilities. These facilities are accessible to individuals who have cancer, but increasingly Hospices are nursing people with non-malignant disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis and Motor Neurone Disease and other chronic conditions. This highlights the adaptability of palliative care, as the basic principles of the palliative approach can be applied to many other healthcare settings.

It is this transferability which guarantees the growth of the palliative care field, because everyone deserves to live their life, no matter how long or short it may be, to the full. [Back]