I thought hospice care meant the end
New data from ellenor shows the impact of hospice care across North Kent and Bexley and why more families need to understand the support available earlier.
Across North Kent and Bexley, around 1,949 people each year should receive palliative and end of life care.
Last year, ellenor supported 2,281 patients and cared for 1,146 people at the end of life – data that shows both the impact of hospice care and the importance of understanding who it is reaching.
When Aisha’s father was diagnosed with a serious illness that wasn’t going to get better, the family did what they had always done. They cared for him at home, supported each other, and tried to manage as best they could not really knowing what help was available, or that hospice care could be part of it.
“We just looked after him,” she says. “That’s what you do.”
Hospice care wasn’t something they talked about. It didn’t feel like something that was for them. It was only later, after a conversation with a healthcare professional that they were introduced to ellenor, a local hospice charity supporting people across North Kent and Bexley.
“We didn’t understand any of it,” she says. “It was just fear. Why him? Why us? Everything felt out of control. Then they sat us down and explained what was happening and for the first time, it didn’t feel so terrifying.”
Her father stayed at home, in his place of choice, surrounded by family.
Stories like this sit alongside a growing body of data that tells a bigger story about care in the community.
Across North Kent and Bexley, around 1,949 people each year should receive palliative and end of life care. In 2024–25, 1,146 people died under ellenor’s care showing both the scale of support being provided and that not everyone who may need it is yet being reached.
Over the same period, ellenor had contact with 2,281 patients and carried out 55,776 patient and family contacts, ranging from advice over the phone to face-to-face care at home and in the hospice. It accepted 3,495 referrals, including patients, relatives and carers, with 1,874 people referred who had not previously been known to the service.
For those who are referred, the outcomes are strong. Of the 1,146 people who died under ellenor’s care, 85% died in their known preferred place of death, exceeding local targets.
Only 15% died in hospital, lower than the wider system benchmark. In other words, when people access hospice care, they are more likely to be supported where they want to be – often at home – and less likely to die in hospital. Alongside this, the data is helping build a clearer picture of the communities ellenor serves. In Dartford, around 33% of the population is from ethnic minority communities.
That diversity is not yet fully reflected in the people accessing hospice care. This is not unique to ellenor. Across the UK, people from some communities are less likely to access palliative and end of life care. This is often shaped by a combination of factors including awareness, cultural perspectives, language and when conversations about care begin.
What the data shows is not a lack of need but a difference in how and when people reach support. There are also areas where greater understanding is needed.
In some cases, key information including factors such as religion is not consistently recorded making it harder to build a clear picture of who is being reached and where gaps may exist.
At the same time, another shift is taking place. The population is ageing. Over the coming years, much of the growth in the local population will be among people aged 65 and over – those most likely to need palliative care. Demand will continue to rise. And as it does, it becomes even more important to ensure care is not only available, but truly accessible.
This is beginning to shape how services are delivered at ellenor. It means looking more closely at how people are referred and where there are opportunities to reach them earlier.
It means building stronger relationships with local communities and making conversations about hospice care feel more open and easier to begin. It also means continuing to learn from what the data shows and understanding where barriers to access still exist.
The focus now is on ensuring more people who could benefit from that care feel able to access it.
For Aisha, that understanding came too late.
“I didn’t understand what hospice care really was,” she says. “I thought it meant the end. I didn’t realise it was about helping him live, and be cared for, right until the end.”
If more people understood that earlier, their experience of care could be very different.
That is the challenge now. Not just continuing to provide care but helping more people understand what hospice care really is and that it is there for them.
This is not about whether hospice care works. The outcomes already show that it does. The focus now is on ensuring more people who could benefit from that care feel able to access it.
Behind that care sits a significant level of resource. In 2024 – 25, ellenor spent £6.6 million delivering care services, including £5.4 million on adult services and £1.2 million on children’s services.
Of the £10 million total income received, only around 26% came from public funding, with the majority raised through the support of the local community.
