Starbucks Walton on Thames, Sainsbury's

Who we are Princess Alice Hospice is here to provide free, holistic palliative care for patients with advanced illness and those approaching the end of their lives. We aim to enable all patients to have the best possible quality to the end, responding quickly to their needs and wishes. We recognise that family, carers and friends have needs of their own and we are here to provide them with support, comfort and advice at every stage of illness and after death. Our vision Together we will inspire and deliver innovative palliative and end of life care to help patients, families and carers feel better, do more, and cope with death and dying. In-patient care Patients may be admitted to our In-patient ward for respite care to give carers a break or to combat troublesome symptoms before being discharged home. Many of our patients are cared for at home but they may decide that, when the time comes, they would like to die at the Hospice. If that is their choice, then we will be there. Princess Alice Hospice at home Most of our patients are cared for in their own homes. Our expert team of consultants, doctors and nurses provide the same specialist care in your home that we offer in our Hospice in Esher. Day patient care Our Day Hospice is the hub of our outpatient clinics. It offers therapeutic care, such as speech and language therapy, dietetics and complementary therapies, and a range of activities and groups such as the “Coping with confidence” and “Living with breathlessness” group. Families and carers We are here to provide family, friends and carers with support, comfort and advice at every stage of their loved one’s illness and after their death. Our team is available to offer advice on practical and financial matters, and provide emotional support tailored to you.

F.I.T has been running for 18 months and has grown in to a wonderfully supportive community where everyone facing illness supports each other to feel better or at least less alone with their pain, either physical or mental. We have 12 volunteers who take it upon themselves to run the community very successfully, between them offering monthly support groups, regular social meet ups for lunch or coffee, and lots of online support on social media sites and our own website. We all understand what it feels like to be alone. What's even worse is to suffer alone in pain. So we know within Facing Illness Together that, 'Together We Are Stronger' and by coming together and sharing our difficulties, distress, or damn right silliness, makes us feel less alone, and that in itself makes us feel stronger and able to continue the fight within each day that arises when one faces a chronic illness 24/7. F.I.T currently offers most of its support in Surrey, UK. Therefore this is where our support groups are and most of our social meets, as opposed to anywhere else in the country. However, we want to broaden the areas within which we can offer the support. We want to reach out to even more people. We want to make more people stronger together! We aim to take on lots more volunteers in order to act as reps for the area within which they are living. We will be working with county's to start with and there are quite a few of them in England alone! But by the Summer of 2016 we want to have an area rep volunteering for each county in the UK, and to therefore be responsible to set up support groups in their county, along with social meets and to man a Facebook support groups for their area, Eg - F.I.T Surrey Support Group. This will take a lot of work, time and effort! But we won't back down. We want to make this happen. And by doing so, so many more people facing illness will benefit. The NHS will benefit too, because there will be less people going to hospitals and GP's for support if they know they can get it elsewhere, from a trusted community. Instead of people facing illness alone, people will be able to join this community and be a part of something better - Facing Illness Together.