Northern Ireland Hospice

The very first Hospice Nurse started work in 1983, providing care to patients in their own homes. The in patient unit opened in 1985, starting off with 6 beds, then 15 and later 21. Northern Ireland Hospice has come a long way since then. Today we have an Adult Hospice and Children’s Hospice and provide a whole range of services both in hospice and in the community for our patients and their families. The adult hospice is based at Somerton Road in Belfast. The children’s hospice is based at Horizon House in Newtownabbey and opened in 2001. We also provide Education and Research in palliative and end of life care.

Hospice care is much more than pain and symptom control but also pays attention to the individual and helps them in a way appropriate to them. It is flexible and adaptable, much more than a building, it is a way of caring, and in many situations hospice care can be provided at home.

Our philosophy of caring remains true to the original vision of the founder of the modern hospice movement, the late Dame Cicely Saunders, who reminded us that,

“… people approaching the end of life are still a part of life, brothers and sisters of us all, going through what may well be the most important part of their lives and that of the family and friends they are leaving”.

Dame Cicely Saunders was a woman of great vision, compassion and faith who transformed the way we care for the dying in the UK and beyond. The vision of hospice (later to be known as palliative) care she propounded, recognised that people are more than their illness and that care needed to take account of emotional, social and spiritual issues as well as addressing the concerns of family and friends who were also facing loss. In this way hospice care aims to relieve our fears of pain and loss as we face death.