SCOTTISH HOSPICE WALTZES OFF WITH NATIONAL LOTTERY AWARD
13th August 2015
Strictly Come Dancing’s Anton Du Beke surprises Strathcarron Hospice with news that it has been voted the UK’s Best Health project
Today (Wednesday 13 August 2015) Strictly Come Dancing star, Anton Du Beke, surprised nurses at Strathcarron Hospice when he presented them with a National Lottery Awards trophy.
The charity received over 7,500 votes to win the Best Health Project for its Hospice@Home service in this year’s National Lottery Awards - the annual search to find the UK’s favourite Lottery funded projects.
The charity wins a £2,000 cash prize, an iconic National Lottery Awards trophy and will attend a star-studded Awards ceremony, The National Lottery Stars, broadcast on BBC One on 21 September.
Strathcarron’s Hospice@Home service provides people who are at the end of their life and wish to spend their last few days at home with personal, practical and emotional support. The project, run by experienced palliative care nurses, provides people – many of whom only have weeks left to live – with practical advice, nursing support and complementary therapies in the comfort of their own home.
Anton Du Beke said: “It’s a pleasure to present Strathcarron Hospice with a National Lottery Award for Best Health Project.
“They are thoroughly deserving winners. The care the Hospice@Home service offers is so important. They support patients and their families at a very difficult and distressing time and give real choice to enable people to die at home if that is their wish. Meeting the nurses and families here today has been an honour. National Lottery players should be proud that their money is supporting incredible projects like this.”
Strathcarron Hospice Chief Executive, Irene McKie, said:
“At Strathcarron we strive to improve the lives of people who have advanced illness and make every day as good it can be for them and their families.
“Hospice care isn’t about a building, it is a way of caring for people. National Lottery funding set up the Hospice@Home service, enabling us to support people in the last weeks of life who want to stay within the familiar surroundings of their own home.
“It’s quite overwhelming to know that thousands of people voted to recognise us as the UK’s Best Health Project. Winning this prestigious award is testament to the hard work and belief of our nurses and staff, volunteers, and our many supporters.”
Ends
Notes to editors
Notes to Editors:
• Strathcarron Hospice@Home received £702,573 of National Lottery funding through Big Lottery Fund
• There are seven categories in the National Lottery Awards, reflecting the main areas of Lottery funding: arts, education, environment, health, heritage, sport, and voluntary/charity
• On average the National Lottery players raise over £34m each week – making a life changing difference to the nation.
• To date there have been an average of 144 national Lottery grants for every postcode district
• Further information at www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk
For more information and images, please contact:
Sarah Myers on 07828 617962 or sarah.myers@lotterygoodcauses.org.uk