Six doctors, 32 nurses, five therapists and over 350 volunteers – this is just a fraction of the people needed for St David’s Hospice to provide end-of-life care for people in Gwynedd, Conwy and Anglesey and their loved ones.

St David’s is one of more than 200 charitable hospices across the UK taking part in Hospice Care Week this week (7-13 October), led by the national hospice and end-of-life care charity Hospice UK.

This year the theme, This Is What It Takes, will be highlighting that, while hospice care is provided free for people with life-limiting conditions and their families, it is not cheap and takes a lot of skills and people and resources.

St David’s organises over 30 fundraising events and campaigns a year, runs 25 charity shops selling donated goods and has over 10,000 people playing the St David’s Hospice Lottery. It needs to raise £4 million every year to ensure care is provided free to all.

The hospice receives 12 per cent funding from the NHS and Welsh Government, but has to raise 88 per cent of its income itself and it relies heavily on the generous support of local communities, including from companies, donors and hospice fundraising supporters.

To find out more about St David’s Hospice during Hospice Care Week go to its Facebook page where the hospice will be showing the public what it needs to provide its services, using the hashtag #ThisIsWhatItTakes

Tracey Bleakley, chief executive of Hospice UK, said: “Hospices provide incredible care and improve the lives of so many people with life-limiting conditions and their loved ones. During Hospice Care Week, we would like to give a big shout out to everyone involved in making this happen and show just what it takes.

“We want to give people a ‘behind the scenes’ glimpse of the sheer diversity of people and resources that goes into the compassionate care provided to people at the end of their lives and why hospices are truly at the heart of their communities.

“We hope that in Hospice Care Week people will be inspired to support their local hospice in different ways; whether by donating, volunteering or helping to spread the word about hospice care on social media.

“This year is proving to be really tough for the hospice sector on several fronts, whether related to fundraising or recruitment challen­ges, so it has never been more important for people to support their local hospice.”

Each year, St David’s Hospice cares for more than 1,000 people with terminal and life-limiting conditions and also provide bereavement support for their families.