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The first place exclusively for the dying
in England was The Hostel of God, founded
in 1892 and which later changed its name
to Trinity Hospice. William Hoare of the
banking family appealed for funds to provide
a home “for the man who is neither curable
nor incurable, but simply dying.” He
provided half the funds and the rest was
raised by public subscription.
Masons were soon seen to be active in
support. In 1894, the Provincial Grand
Lodge of Berkshire donated a bed named
“Our Brother’s Bed” in memory of their
late Provincial Grand Master, the Duke
of Clarence. In that year they had 10 beds
and patients were cared for by the Order of
St James’s Servants of the Poor, a teaching
order of nuns. In 1896 the Order of St
Margaret’s of East Grinstead took over,
as they were a nursing Order.
Other homes soon followed. St Luke’s
Home for the Dying Poor opened in 1893,
when their founder, Dr Barrett, stressed the
importance of the individual: not the poor
or the dying, but the person. The first use of
the word “hospice” was by the Irish Sisters
of Charity at St Joseph’s in Hackney in 1905.
In 1935 a major difference was seen at St
Luke’s with the introduction of the regular
giving of oral opiates – “the Brompton
Cocktail.” However, at that time drugs
were given “as required” with the concept
of patients “earning their morphine.”
The Sisters of St Joseph’s were perhaps the
inspiration for enhancing appropriate ways of
caring, and without them Dr (later Dame)
Cecily Saunders, who worked there, would
not have learnt from them and gone on to
found St Christopher’s Hospice in 1967.
Her ideas were developed and the
modern hospice movement was born from
the simple and obvious system of giving
drugs to prevent pain happening, rather than
to wait and give them once it had occurred.
It seems laughable that there were voices in
the medical profession that preferred a
person to be in pain rather than have the
small danger of becoming drug dependant in
their last days.
Also, patients were told the truth about
their condition so as to let them take charge
of their own situation and know they were
in control of themselves. Dame Cicely
Saunders wrote:
Fear and apprehension are understandable –
there is indeed a mystery ahead – but we can
tackle fear of pain, fear of other symptoms and
above all fear of isolation. Although there will
still be people who remain desolate or angry
and with whom one has to wait alongside with
no answers to give, the majority find their way
into peace.
St Christopher’s, St Joseph’s, Trinity
Hospice and others did not just confine
themselves to caring for their own patients,
but have shared models of care and training
specialists in best practice so as to spread the
hospice philosophy with teaching, advice
and support. Now there are over 200
hospices in the UK, and the philosophy has
been exported world-wide.
Hospices each have their own catchment
areas and serve locally, raising their own
finance. Masons have supported the hospice
movement through their Lodges in giving
and frequently brethren have been involved
directly with their time and talents. Some
80,000 volunteers help the hospice
movement each year.
What of the future? In order to widen
treatment and enhance their quality of life,
more patients will be helped to remain longer
in their own homes amongst their loved ones
and pets. However, with this there comes the
need for respite care. This is when a patient is
taken in for a short spell in order to give their
carers some space in order to deal with their
own worries and problems, to say nothing of
the need to prepare themselves for their loss.
The percentage of people dying from diseases
other than cancer is increasing and so are the
challenges.
What can we do to support them and
thereby help give relief to a person in need?
The answer is financial. We can support our
local hospices. Do they need our support?
The chart shows the income of Trinity
Hospice. It was a surprise to see how little
the NHS contributes. Many hospices receive
even less.
Trinity’s existing 200-year-old listed
buildings limit the capacity for 21st century
nursing, but works have begun to build a
new state-of-the-art in-patient unit that will
transform the way palliative care
is delivered.
Trinity holds an annual information
event for Freemasons on the third
Wednesday of September. They will also
be hosting a conference about palliative
care at Grand Lodge on 16 May, open to
Freemasons, their families and friends.
For further details, including their project
and forthcoming events, please visit their
web page dedicated to Freemasons at
www.trinityhospice.org.uk/freemasons.
If you want to learn more or find out
which is your local hospice, go to
www.hospiceinformation.info.
Acknowledgements: Articles by Dame Cicely
Saunders and help from Trinity Hospice.
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Copyright 2002-2007
MQ Magazine
Web site created by Mark Griffin
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