Hope House is named after baby Hope Peachey who died when she was just ten months old. 

Hope was Caroline and Roger Peachey’s third child. Hope's sister Fiona had also died a few short years earlier, but with Hope the family had the support of Acorns Children’s Hospice in Birmingham and really appreciated how important the help of a children's hospice was to families who were struggling to care for their seriously ill child alone.

Caroline was part of the Shrewsbury Opportunity Group, a play scheme for able bodied and disabled children. This group was inspired by Caroline to take the lead on looking into creating a children's hospice for Shropshire. They called a public meeting in May 1990 to bring together parents, healthcare professionals and potential supporters.  

On March 4^th 1991 the charity that was to become Hope House Children’s Hospices was formed and an ambitious appeal launched to raise the £1.5 million needed to build our hospice at Morda, near Oswestry. It was a huge challenge but local communities were with us from the start and people in every town and village across the region were soon holding coffee mornings, bring and buy sales and sponsored events to help reach the grand total needed!

Building started in 1993 and when we first opened our doors to children in October 1995 Hope House was only the tenth children’s hospice in the entire world.

In our first full year after opening we supported 80 families. Now we support more than 750 families. 

Our services have developed over the years to reflect the changing needs of children and families. These are some of our milestones …

In 1998 our Community Team was set up to provide emergency nursing and terminal care for children at home, as well as at our hospice.

In 2003 our first Family Counsellor was appointed to provide counselling and bereavement support to the families of children using Hope House’s services.

In 2004 we opened our second hospice, Tŷ Gobaith, just outside Conwy in North Wales. It is more convenient for families from North Wales, and also sensitive to the needs of the local population, many of whom speak Welsh as a first language.

In 2011 we opened the Sunstone Counselling Centre at Hope House because of growing demand for our services. We started offering our specialist bereavement support to all local families whose child had died in any circumstance.

In 2014 our first Neonatal Link Nurse was appointed to work with neonatal units across the region providing help and support to women and their families when their baby was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition during pregnancy or at birth. 

In 2017 we moved our Tŷ Gobaith counselling service to a self-contained building in Conwy called Conwy Court, making it easier for families in North Wales to access our specialist counselling services.

In 2019 we launched a pioneering Out of Hours End of Life Service at Tŷ Gobaith in partnership with the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. This ensures that families in north Wales have the choice of where their seriously ill child dies, including at home, and that they are supported 24 hours a day, 7 days a week wherever they choose to be.

In 2021 we introduced our Key Worker service, where every child and family is linked with their own special member of our Care Team. The key worker bridges the gap between the family, the hospices, and all other service providers they use, improving the co-ordination of care for every child.

We also appointed Independent Nurse Prescribers at both Hope House and Tŷ Gobaith who can prescribe medicines to support both symptom management and end of life care.

In 2022 we partnered with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and NHS Wales to appoint our first Specialist Paediatric Palliative Care Consultant. This new position brings clinical expertise and leadership to support our care teams at both hospices which will enable us to provide more specialised palliative care.

So that is our past in a nutshell! Please be a part of our future and make sure we are here for every child and family who needs our help by making a donation today. Thank you.

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