Willow Burn Hospice treasures the lives of people whose illnesses are no longer curable, enabling them to achieve the best quality of life, at the worst time of their life. Our local hospice services provide a friendly and supportive environment in which everyone feels welcome. A hospice is not just about death. Willow Burn Hospice is proof of this. Typically, people come to Willow Burn for end of life care, respite care and day hospice services when they have limiting illnesses. At a time when people can be scared or nervous they have found our high level of service offers peace of mind, both at Willow Burn and through our ‘at-home care’ sister organisation, Hazelbrook. With the care and support of our family support team, before and after death, family and friends have someone to turn to for comfort. To support those in our care we are continually raising funds by holding events in the local community and receiving donations from the general public. Willow Burn Hospice opened in 1989 as a result of two remarkable women, Irene Mortimer and Valerie Davison, who identified a local gap in the service of hospice care and with the support of the Secretary of State set up Day Hospice Care with the help of funding from Macmillan. The Willow Burn Day Hospice service was expanded in 1991 to include In-patient services and up until 2006 these were the only beds available in Durham. Most members of the local population have been touched in one way or another by the hospice, either by direct or indirect contact with the facility. This gives the community a real sense of local ownership which is evident in all aspects of the service from patients and their families, fundraising contributions received by the hospice and in the numbers of volunteers gifting their time, skills and knowledge to the facility. *Willow Burn now accepts over the phone payments!*