Dr Kershaw's Hospice provides free, specialist, end-of-life and palliative care (an area of healthcare that focuses on relieving and preventing the suffering of patients) for adults with life-limiting illnesses in Oldham and its surrounding areas in a peaceful and homely environment. The Hospice opened in 1989 following the conversion and development of a 1930s cottage hospital originally built with a legacy from Dr John Kershaw, a local GP.
The Hospice has a team of dedicated clinical staff including doctors, nurses, health care assistants and care givers who support patients in the Hospice’s Inpatient Unit and Wellbeing Centre (day patient facility), along with supporting patients in the community through their Hospice at Home service and Caring Hands, the Hospice’s domiciliary service.
Dr Kershaw’s Hospice has undergone a number of building programmes, with the most recent being the development of a new state-of-the-art Inpatient Unit (IPU), which opened in February 2021. The new IPU provides modern en-suite patient facilities combined with beautifully transformed gardens which are now complete, with the woodlands due to be finalised in 2023.
As an independent Hospice and a registered charity (Charity No. 1105924), Dr Kershaw’s Hospice receives less than one third of its funding from the Integrated Care System (ICS) with the remaining (just under) £5.3million annual budget coming from fundraising activities and donations. To ensure the continuity of our services, and to provide care for future patients, the Hospice needs the community’s support today through fundraising activities, donations, legacies, income from the Hospice shops and revenue from the Hospice lottery.