Care home's auction for Prospect Hospice

It collectively raised £5,500 for three separate charities including Prospect Hospice.
The black-tie fundraising event saw Willowbrook View, Portsdown View and Waterhaven Place come together to support charities hand-picked by their residents. 
Willowbrook View’s residents chose Prospect Hospice, which provides free palliative and end-of-life care across Swindon and north-east Wiltshire, alongside advice and support for patients’ families and carers.
Mathan Balasubramaniyan, General Manager at Willowbrook View, said:  “When we started planning the auction, we wanted residents to have a real say in where the money would go. 
"We were therefore delighted when the residents chose Prospect Hospice, which does amazing work helping and supporting families through difficult times. 
"Choosing a charity that does that work in our own community gave the evening a very clear purpose and made the fundraising feel much more personal.”
Charlotte Forrest, Director of Income Generation at Prospect Hospice, said: “We’re incredibly grateful to the residents, families and team at Willowbrook View for choosing to support Prospect Hospice, and to everyone who helped make the auction such a success. 
"Support like this means so much to us. It helps us continue to be there for local people and their families, providing expert, compassionate care when they need it most.”
The evening brought together residents, families and members of the wider community, with auction lots ranging from pamper sessions and afternoon teas to weekend breaks, large-screen TVs, artwork and wine.
The auction came at a difficult time for palliative care in the UK, with hospices facing mounting financial pressure and growing uncertainty over maintaining their frontline services. 
Hospices across England ended the last financial year with a collective deficit of more than £70 million, more than double the previous year. Meanwhile, nearly six in 10 hospices have made, or are considering cuts to frontline services.
Prospect Hospice has provided free end-of-life care across Swindon and the surrounding area for more than 45 years. 
With only 16% of its funding coming from statutory sources like the NHS, however, it relies heavily on fundraising and community support to continue caring for patients and families.For Willowbrook View, the auction therefore gave residents and staff a practical way to support people in the community in desperate need of end-of-life support, while supporting a crucial organisation with deep local roots.
Mathan added: “Good end-of-life care should give people space to be themselves, not just patients. It might mean helping someone stay comfortable in familiar surroundings or giving a worried relative time to talk. 
"Those things matter enormously. We’re hugely grateful to everyone who donated a prize, placed a bid or bought a raffle ticket and helped us support such a worthwhile cause.”
Willowbrook View is part of the Connaught Care Collection, a provider of luxury care homes with six locations across the country. The home was recently rated Good overall by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), with an Outstanding rating for Caring.
 

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