Welcome from our Chief Executive

A very warm welcome – I am delighted to introduce our Impact Report for 2021–22. In this report, you can find out more about our charity and how our palliative, neurological and bereavement support made a difference to people going through the most difficult times of their lives.

I would like to take this opportunity to say a special thank you to everyone who supported us over the past year. It is thanks to your generous donations, unwavering efforts to raise vital funds and time spent volunteering that we are able to support people to live the best lives they can. Your help allows us to keep providing our compassionate and expert care and being there when it matters most.

A number of challenges were thrown our way throughout the year because of the continuing coronavirus pandemic. Our resilient healthcare teams still had to contend with working extra shifts to cover for colleagues who had tested positive. They also had to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) for hours at a time, implement strict infection prevention and control measures, and manage restrictions on visitors to our centres. I want to pay tribute to our inspiring and committed staff who have worked tirelessly day in, day out to provide the very best care.

Providing more care for more people

Despite the challenges, there were many achievements to celebrate as we made positive progress in delivering our five-year strategy. Our work was shaped by our two aims – to provide more care for more people, and to influence new models of care across the UK. We were supported by the passion and dedication of more than 12,000 incredible volunteers, who contributed more than 1.3 million hours of support.

To be there for people with life-limiting conditions, we increased our use of technology and developed our virtual care. We piloted our first specialist palliative care Virtual Ward from our hospice in Leeds and are proud to see the model being adopted across the city, in partnership with other healthcare providers.

As we continue on our mission towards a future where everyone can access the quality of care they need and deserve, we were delighted to secure the support of more than 35 MPs for our #FundHospiceCare campaign. We raised awareness of the growing demand for palliative care and the need for a sustainable funding solution for the sector.

Our expert neurological care helped people to live their lives to the fullest. This included helping more people to get their independence back through our neurological rehabilitation services in Lancashire and Suffolk. Overall, we were able to care for 26% more people compared to the year before.

Helping even more people who are grieving

We believe that nobody should grieve alone and so our bereavement support is an important priority for Sue Ryder. Over the past year, we focused on growing our Online Bereavement Support services to help even more people who are grieving. More than ever before used our Online Bereavement Community – over 150,000 visitors, which was an increase of 20% from the previous year. The number of people who were assessed for our Online Bereavement Counselling increased too, by 35%, and we completed 52% more video counselling sessions.

We feel that as a society, much more needs to be done when it comes to improving our approach to grief. That is why we launched our Grief Kind campaign in 2021 in a bid to equip the nation with the knowledge and tools to meet grief with warmth and acceptance, instead of shying away from open conversations.

Find out more about how Sue Ryder was there when it mattered

Last but not least, building a more inclusive and empowering culture for everyone who works or volunteers for us has remained high on the agenda. We hope the changes we are making via our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion programme will not only help us to better reflect the people who use our services, but also enable us to further extend our influence into harder to reach communities.

We hope you will enjoy finding out more about how Sue Ryder was there when it mattered in this report. You can also read stories from some of the people who have benefitted from our care.

My heartfelt thanks for your interest in our charity – your support really does make all the difference.

Best wishes, 

Heidi Travis
Chief Executive

View or download the full report

• 'There when it matters: How we made an impact 2021-22’

To see how we performed against selected quality measures, and our initiatives and priorities, you can also read our latest Quality Account report.