From humble beginnings to caring for thousands in Gwent - St David's Hospice Care is 40 this year

There have been four decades of development from humble beginnings to the major provider of care and support the charity is today - and here, the South Wales Argus looks back at how it has grown.

It all began in 1979, when a group of student nurses, under the tutelage of Heulwen Egerton MBE at Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital, set up the Gwent Hospice Project Group.

(Cambrian House in 1984, former headquarters of the St David's Foundation)

The group was made up of like-minded individuals who were concerned at the lack of palliative care available to the people of Gwent.

They sought to find out where patients would like to be cared for if they had the choice. The answer was “at home”.

“That’s how St David’s Foundation, as it was then, was formed,” explained Emma Saysell, CEO of St David’s Hospice Care.

(Emma Saysell)

“In the 1970s most hospices were just people in beds. St David’s were pioneering in a way for helping to keep people at home.”

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In 1979, the hospice looked after their first six patients. They purchased a site in Maindee, Cambrian House, to serve as their headquarters and were based out of the premises for many years.

The hospice appointed their first chief executive in the mid-90s which was also around the time that they first received the sign-off for statutory funding from the NHS.

(St David's Foundation shop on Chepstow Road, Newport in 1991)

Previous to this, their work had been 100 per cent on a charity basis. This provided the security to expand further.

Current CEO Emma Saysell started at the hospice as a nurse in 1994.

“The hospice was looking after more and more people as a result of the now recognised importance of palliative care,” she said.

“A lot of hospices, up until the last ten years, were mainly focused on patients with cancer but at St David’s 30 per cent of our patients have other conditions such as motor neurone disease (MND) and dementia.”

(St David's Foundation's mobile exhibition unit in 1992)

At this point, St David’s had three hospice sites – Pontypool, Ystrad Mynach and Cambrian House in Maindee.

When Mrs Saysell took over as Director of Nursing in the early 2000s it became apparent that the only way to keep people at home during the night was to provide an overnight nursing care service.

“In 2004, I took over as chief executive,” continued Mrs Saysell.

“We were still based at Cambrian House, but there was no way that expansion could continue. The building had served us well for more than 25 years.

(St David's Hospice Care HQ in Malpas)

“We had to have a plan for the next 10 years and so we worked with Newport City Council and the Welsh Government to develop out new headquarters.”

In 2013, the new HQ in Malpas opened. Six months later, St Anne’s Hospice was also brought on board. Then, in 2015, plans were drawn up for a new inpatient unit which was eventually opened in 2017.

“We care for around 3,500 patients each year,” said Mrs Saysell.

“This could be through our inpatient unit, 20 palliative care nurses, hospice at home centre, bereavement service, four day hospices (Brecon being the addition to Malpas, Pontypool and Ystrad Mynach), education department and the Unicorn Service which helps bereaved children.”

All of these things require funding however and this is another example of the growth of the hospice over the years.

In 2004, there were 16 St David’s Hospice Care charity shops. 15 years later there are 38.

“When I started at St David’s we needed £3million each year to ensure a smooth running of the hospice,” said Mrs Saysell.

“Now the figure is around £9million.”

Fundraisers who have supported the hospice throughout the years have been many and varied.

(Monmouth Raft Race 2019)

Some of the events held to raise money have proved especially memorable such as back in 2008 when a pig auction in Monmouth saw Adrian and Rosemary Smith bring home the bacon with a £1525 donation.

Also in 2008, Charles Cadogan, from Upper Cwmbran, published a book of poetry entitled A Gift Of Love, with all proceeds going to St David’s.

Mr Cadogan, who was living with terminal lung cancer, wrote all 37 poems himself as a way of raising money for the hospice.

A regular event on the fundraising calendar is the Monmouth Raft Race. The annual race is a fun-filled family extravaganza with rafts of all shapes and sizes making their way at various paces down the river from Monmouth a little more than 6.5 miles down the Wye to the finish at Tump Farm, Whitebrook.

For those who like to keep fit and raise money for a good cause at the same time, there is also the Dalmatian Bike Ride. This annual ride sees cyclists tackling routes of varying difficulty which take them through the spectacular scenery of Gwent.

If that wasn’t enough then the Whitehead Tour de Gwent and the Admiral City of Newport Half Marathon also provided a way for charitable athletes to push themselves and help fund the hospice.

A slightly more sedate way to support St David’s has been an annual golfing event held at Newport’s Celtic Manor Resort.

Organiser, South Wales businessman Roger Gambarini, has raised £301,450 for the hospice over the years by staging the golf event.

(Jackie Lewis)

One of the more well-known fundraisers was the late Jackie Lewis who raised almost £65,000 in memory of her son Steven who died in 2011.

Mrs Lewis passed away in April this year. A tranquil constant flow silver globe water feature, unveiled by Jackie in October 2013 in the peaceful gardens of the day hospice at Malpas, is a lasting reminder of Steven’s life and of a mother’s love for her son.

Newport firms Western Power Distribution and Kymin are also regular supporters of the hospice and have helped to raise lots of money over the years.

(St David's Hospice Care)

“None of this could have been achieved without the tireless work of the fundraisers and volunteers,” said Mrs Saysell.

“St David’s is the community’s service. We support them and they support us.

“It’s important we try our very best to get it right, to make that very difficult time a little bit easier.”