Take Willen Hospice’s 20.25 Challenge to help keep care at home.
Willen Hospice is appealing to the Milton Keynes community to step up to its 20.25 Challenge and help make sure essential care at home can continue during 2025.
Through the 20.25 Challenge, the Hospice is asking the people of Milton Keynes if they can donate just £20.25 each. This would pay for a Willen at Home nurse to be on shift for an hour – ready to support a local person with a life-limiting illness.
Willen at Home currently receives no NHS funding yet is the only service of its kind in the city, providing free, specialist palliative care and support to thousands of patients and their loved ones in their own homes. In neighbouring counties, similar services are entirely paid for by the NHS.
This new Challenge builds on many months of campaigning by the Hospice to help fund Willen at Home. Last autumn more than 8,000 local people signed a petition to demand fairer NHS funding for the Hospice, and hundreds donated to the Christmas appeal, which raised over £200,000.
Among those supporting the Hospice’s petition was Labour MP for Milton Keynes North, Chris Curtis. “I am determined to do all I can to support the fantastic Willen Hospice,” says Chris. “The Hospice holds a special place in my heart. They have been there for my family during some of our most difficult times, offering comfort, dignity and support when we needed it most. I know their incredible care has touched the lives of countless families across our city. This hospice isn’t just a service – it’s a community of local people helping local people. I'm proud to be taking the 20.25 Challenge myself by running the London Marathon in April in aid of the Hospice. Please support them if you are able.”
In December the government announced a one-off £100 million funding boost to be allocated to more than 200 UK hospices, but Willen Hospice is still waiting to hear what share of this it might receive and when. Whilst any additional funding will be welcomed, the Hospice warns that this would be a one-off and does not solve the ongoing funding crisis or the local inequity. In the meantime, the Hospice is heavily reliant on the generosity of the community to ensure local people get the expert, compassionate care they need as they face the end of their life.
Kirsty Reid is a nurse in the Willen at Home team. “We’re so grateful for the support we’ve received so far to help fund our work,” says Kirsty. “It costs £1.4 million a year for us to provide our specialist care in people’s homes. Without long-term funding from the NHS, we’ll only be able to keep going because of fundraising. If just 20% of the people in Milton Keynes donated £20.25 each, we’d smash our £1.4 million target and have funded Willen at Home for an entire year.”
Visit the Willen Hospice website to discover how you can take the Willen Hospice 20.25 Challenge and help keep care at home this year.
