Woking & Sam Beare Hospice is a charity providing specialist palliative and end-of-life care across North West Surrey. The organization operates an in-patient facility alongside community nursing, outpatient, and support services.
Origins and Merger
Woking The original Woking Hospice was founded in 1996 by Rhod Lofting who launched the project while serving as Mayor of Woking by opening a ten-bed care facility on Hill View Road, Woking.
Weybridge A ten-bed palliative care ward had operated at Weybridge Hospital for nearly 40 years, named after Sam Beare, a prominent Weybridge GP and practitioner at the hospital. This officially became the Sam Beare Hospice in 1999. After being funded by the NHS from 1999 to 2005, the Weybridge site became a registered charity in June 2006.
Merger Due to high operational costs and rents, the decision was made in 2014 to merge the Woking Hospice with the Sam Beare Hospice and to open a single, purpose-built facility. The Weybridge site closed in 2016 , avoiding a subsequent fire that destroyed the building later that year. At the time the two hospices operated 10 beds each.
The joint facility was named Woking and Sam Beare Hospice to honour the two constituent organisations.
In December 2017, HRH The Countess of Wessex opened the new facility located in Goldsworth Park, Woking.
Facilities The Goldsworth Park site, created from a former office building, was designed for inpatient care, therapy, and family support. The inpatient unit provides 20 private overnight en-suite rooms equipped with balconies capable of accommodating an additional bed so family members can stay overnight. Some of the rooms are sponsored by families and friends of people linked to the hospice, or companies based locally.
The Wellbeing Centre The Wellbeing Centre is a communal space featuring a kitchen, dining area, and adjustable seating oriented toward a landscaped garden. The garden was designed by Chelsea Flower Show award-winner Charlotte Harris, and includes "The Retreat," a multi-faith prayer room.
SC Johnson Family Room SC Johnson donated more than £100,000 to fund the construction and furnishing of a wood-clad curved family room. It is a place for visiting family members to use while visiting patients.
Specialist Therapy Rooms The facility has a fully equipped physiotherapy suite intended to assist terminally ill patients with mobility and physical conditioning. It includes specialised medical bath installations with lifting apparatuses.
Community and Administrative Hubs Alongside the main Woking facility, outpatient community care and administrative functions are supported across the region, including regional operations maintained via local bases such as Clive House in Weybridge.
Patient Care The hospice delivers care to around 800 patients in total, either in their own homes or in a care or nursing home. This includes specialist palliative and end-of-life care for adult patients with life-limiting or terminal conditions across six boroughs in North West Surrey (Woking, Runnymede, Elmbridge, Spelthorne, Guildford, and Surrey Heath). Access to services is managed via healthcare professional referrals.
Inpatient Care Short-term specialist stays (with an average duration of approximately two weeks) focused on pain management, comfort, and end-of-life care.
Outpatient and Community Care 80% of care takes place in the community as the specialist nursing teams provide "Hospice at Home" care, supporting patients who wish to die in their own homes. This is often done alongside external organizations like Marie Curie and Princess Alice Hospice.
Day Care and Support Services The Hospice provides therapies, social interaction, and wellbeing sessions during structured programmes several days a week. Comprehensive support is also extended to patients' families and carers, including funeral care assistance and bereavement counselling.
Finance The organization is a registered charity which relies on a combination of statutory health service funding and voluntary community support. Whilst the charity receives some funding from the NHS, it has to generate two-thirds of its income from fundraising.
In July 2025 as part of the Labour Government's plans to "transform" end-of-life care in the UK the Hospice, was allocated £481,630 for capital expenditure.
Volunteering and Staffing The organization employs roughly 200 paid clinical, administrative, and support staff, backed by an extensive network of roughly 800 volunteers who assist in areas ranging from therapy and patient transport to retail and café operations.
Retail Operations The Hospice runs a network of over a dozen retail shops across North West Surrey, along with an online store and charity bookshops (such as its popular branch in Weybridge) . Retail operations raise approximately one third of the charitable income.
Fundraising While receiving partial commissioning and funding from the NHS, the charity relies heavily on the sale of items from its shops local, legacy gifts and fundraising events (such as its annual Midnight Walk and London Marathon participation teams), to cover the majority of its operating expenses.
Local MP, Ben Spencer, paid tribute to the fundraising efforts for the Hospice in Parliament saying,I pay tribute to everybody for what they do, no matter how big or small, to support our hospices and our palliative care sector. References
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