Mountbatten Isle of Wight joins This is Hospice Care campaign

Four south coast hospices, including Mountbatten Isle of Wight and Mountbatten Hampshire, are joining forces with over one hundred others from across the UK, as part of a Hospice UK-led campaign to encourage you to leave a gift in your Will.

Mountbatten, as well as Oakhaven Hospice in the New Forest, Totton and Waterside, and Rowans Hospice in Waterlooville are taking part in a unique, country-wide campaign, called This is Hospice Care.

The This Is Hospice Care national television advert hits our screens today (17 February, 2025) and will run for a fortnight.

Watch it at:

9.10am on Sky Documentaries

9.45am on ITV3 (during Inspector Morse)

10.27am on Sky News

4.30pm on ITV South East (during Tipping Point)

7.30pm on ITV3 (during Heartbeat)

What is the This is Hospice Care campaign?

Showing patients being cared for at home, surrounded by their families and with an ever-present hospice nurse on hand to support them, This is Hospice Care delivers plenty of emotional punch.

Hospices are up to one-third funded by the NHS. The majority of the money they need is delivered by fundraising and donations — including by money left to them in Wills.

These gifts — whether a set amount or a percentage of your estate, large or small — play a vital part in allowing hospices like Oakhaven, Rowans and Mountbatten to continue to deliver their care.

This is Hospice Care creates an evocative picture of the vital work of hospices — from caring for patients in their own homes to nursing on inpatient units, and from support through grief and rehabilitation to running clubs and groups, getting people talking and sharing their experiences.

Produced by Hospice UK, the television advert puts hospices at the very heart of our communities, including here on the South Coast.

The campaign encourages viewers to search for their own local hospice. Around the Solent, depending on where you live, yours will be Rowans, Oakhaven, Mountbatten Hampshire or Mountbatten Isle of Wight.

Mountbatten CEO, Nigel Hartley, MBE, said:

“Leaving a gift in your Will makes a vital difference. Donations like these play a crucial part in ensuring the expert care delivered by our staff is available now and will continue to be there for people who need us in the future.

“Any gift — large or small — will support people who are dying, on our inpatient unit as well as those we care for in our community, and their families.

“At Mountbatten, we know death can sometimes be difficult to think and talk about. Your decision to leave a gift in your Will will help ensure dignified, kind and expert care will continue to be available, should your loved ones need it in future.

“This is hospice care and what happens today is in part down to those who have died before us, and left their own gifts to Mountbatten. To them, we say thank you. Their kindness and forethought supports the work we are doing now.”

Andrew Ryde, Chief Executive of Oakhaven Hospice, said:

“Gifts in Wills make a crucial difference to Oakhaven, enabling us to continue providing our vital care and support to patients and their loved ones, free of charge.

“As a charity, only 11% of our funding is covered by the NHS; for the remaining 89%, we rely on the generosity of our community. Last year, gifts left in Wills to Oakhaven covered the cost of care for one in four of our patients — a true lifeline supporting local families at the most difficult of times.

“We are so very grateful for every gift left in a Will, whatever its size. Your generosity allows us to make a real difference for families throughout the New Forest, Totton and Waterside, making every moment matter. Each gift in Will is a lasting legacy that ensures we will be here to care for loved ones in our community when they need us most for generations to come. Thank you.”

South-Hampshire’s Rowans Hospice CEO, Iain Cameron, said:

“At Rowans Hospice, we are so grateful for gifts of any size, ensuring these go to fund our vital care for local people.

“At a time where hospice services are under threat due to mounting financial pressures, gifts in Wills have become the lifeblood of support for our services.

“Leaving such gifts are a true and lasting legacy that individuals can pledge to help us care for generations to come. I cannot think of a more powerful and compassionate show of support, than this.”