Our History

St Oswald's Hospice was founded in the early 1970's by Dorothy Jameson, a local lady who felt that North East people, facing life limiting illness, ought to receive the same type of care and support offered by St Christopher's Hospice in London, where her daughter was working.

So, she set about talking to friends and members of the local church, as well as groups within the business, legal and medical professions - spreading the idea of a local hospice, encouraging them to get involved, share the vision and ensure her plans came to fruition.

Dorothy then organised a ten-man committee, responsible for finding a suitable site, appointing an architect and registering as a charity and limited company. In 1982, the committee launched an appeal to raise £2 million to build and run a local hospice. North East people gave their whole-hearted support to the project and we opened our doors in July 1986.

There have been many changes since we opened in 1986:

1997 - We opened a purpose-built Day Hospice

1998 - We opened the Coleman Education Centre.

2003 - We opened our Children's Service – where children from birth to 18 can come for a specialist short break.

2009 - Opened a new Day Services Outpatient Suite. The suite is used to treat Lymphoedema and Complementary Therapy patients.

2010 - We began development of a pilot service for young adults, aged 18-25.

2011 - In July 2011 we were a quarter of a century old!