Happy New Year from St Ann’s

Happy New Year to everyone who makes up our wonderful St Ann’s community, whether patients and their loved ones, our fabulous army of volunteers, our staff, our amazing supporters, or the professionals across Greater Manchester who work with us.

The start of a new year often signifies a time of reflection – a fresh start, or a feeling of hope at what the next twelve months may bring. At St Ann’s we’re no different, and I’m certainly excited to welcome in 2018 at the hospice.

St Ann’s today is very different to the St Ann’s of almost half a century ago, when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, officially opened the Heald Green hospice in June 1971. The services we offer are very different to those our patients benefited from when the Little Hulton site opened in 1979, and even in 1998 when St Ann’s adopted the running of the Neil Cliffe Centre. But our ethos and overarching purpose absolutely remain the same – to provide excellent levels of care to our patients, support to their families, and to endeavour to improve the quality of their lives at all stages of their illness.

We’re really proud that the core purpose of St Ann’s has endured and, as with all organisations, we need to be forward thinking and quick to respond to opportunities and challenges that come our way.

We have big ambitions for the hospice in the coming year, and beyond. We need to make sure that as many people in Greater Manchester as possible can receive the specialist care we provide, right when they need it most.

We want to continue to deliver holistic care that meets the needs of the individual, and we want to increasingly try to do that in the place they’d prefer to access it, whether at home, at one of our hospice sites, or elsewhere in the community.

Our five-year strategy is proud to pronounce that we aspire to offer world-class care.

We can only do that with the kind support of our St Ann’s community, and I thank you for always thinking of us and helping us to achieve the very best for our patients.

I’ll look forward to seeing many of you in the coming year, and wish you a happy 2018.