How 'home from home' Martin House Children's Hospice supports families in their darkest hours

A trained physiotherapist, Clair spent 15 years working at the coalface of the NHS before switching to the charity sector in 2013, when she joined the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Huddersfield, before moving to Martin House Children’s Hospice, based in Wetherby, where she has worked for the past eight years.

Her career has revolved around helping others. “I’m quite a caring person by nature and my dad used to say, ‘whatever you choose, make sure you enjoy it because you do it for a long time.’”

This led her to study physiotherapy at Leeds University. “I really loved rugby at the time, particularly Will Carling, and the thought of being the physio for the England rugby union team was probably up there in my dreams when I was 16,” she says, laughing. “Sadly, that never came to fruition.”

Clair started working as a physiotherapist for the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust which she says equipped her with skills she’s used throughout her career. “I think it makes you good at interacting with people and you have to be a really good problem-solver.”

She says she “fell into” leadership roles at Mid Yorks, where she managed around 500 therapists, doctors and nurses. After 15 years, though, she felt ready for a change.

“The NHS was tough then and I’m sure it’s even tougher now in terms of the pressures. I think most people who go into a caring profession want to make a difference and I felt like I was making less and less of a difference.

"I felt I had a lot of transferable skills and could make more of a difference. It was a bit of a leap of faith but I don’t regret it for one moment. It’s afforded me lots of different opportunities and I genuinely love what I do, which I don’t think too many people can say.”

She joined Martin House Children’s Hospice in 2016, initially as director of clinical services before being appointed chief executive four years later.

Martin House was set up in 1987 and is the second oldest children’s care hospice in the country, providing specialist palliative care to children and young people with life-shortening conditions.

The hospice is a lifeline to families across Yorkshire, providing the best possible end-of-life care and bereavement support.

“We prioritise those children who are deteriorating, or dying, with end of life care,” says Clair. “We go on a bit of a journey with families which sometimes lasts days or weeks, but in other cases years, depending on when a child gets their diagnosis and how long they live with a life-limiting condition. For us it’s very much about making the most out of the very short life some of these children have.”

It might sound emotional and, at times, heartbreaking work, but Clair says there are moments of laughter and joy amidst the sadness. “It’s a home from home for families, it’s not like a hospital. Yes, it can be incredibly emotive and at other times it can be a very happy place. I once walked into the lounge area and this little girl was crying. She was a sibling of a child that was staying and I asked if she was ok and she was upset because she was going home.”

The staff also take inspiration from the families, many of whom they have known for years. “When I listen to some of the parents talk it’s both inspiring and humbling. I often read notes that families leave behind for us and you can see that we’re making a difference in what is the most horrendous time in a family’s life, and it makes you want to do more and help more people and to be able to provide the best possible care.”

Good leadership is crucial in any successful organisation. “You should always develop as a leader, but you’re only as good as the people around you and that’s the biggest lesson – surround yourself with people who are better than you and you’ll succeed. So I’m fortunate to have an exceptionally good team.”

Resilience is another important quality, something that was sorely tested during the pandemic. “Covid was really challenging, particularly at the beginning because we didn’t know how badly children would be affected. It was hard for families but thankfully we never had to close because of an outbreak and managed the situation really well, even though we were constantly having to rewrite our guidelines.”

For any charity, income and fundraising are a constant challenge and it’s no different at Martin House, which employs nearly 200 people. It costs around £10m a year to run the hospice, 80 per cent of which has to be found through voluntary donations, with the remainder coming via the Integrated Care Boards.

Clair says the cost of living crisis and rising financial pressures are the biggest challenges facing most hospices at the moment, making fundraising even more difficult. “It’s harder than it was a few years ago and we try to mitigate this by having as many diverse income routes as possible.”

They get a huge amount of support from community groups, organisations and schools and generate income from their 13 shops dotted around the county along with legacies from wills.

Behind the scenes they are also hard at work forging partnerships with big companies and philanthropists. “I don’t think people necessarily appreciate the complexities involved in running a charity. We provide a clinical care and support service, like the NHS, but we also have to generate money so in effect we have a retail, sales and fundraising team.”

The hospice has also launched an ambitious £21.9m project, called The Build, which will see the creation of a new children’s wing, a teenager’s wing and a wellbeing and education centre. A campaign to raise £2m by winter 2025 was launched earlier this year and for Clair, the project is an opportunity to safeguard the future of the hospice.

“It’s our chance as a community to leave a legacy for the next 37 years of Martin House because there will be thousands of families sadly that will need to use the service. I’d love to think we’ll get to the point where children’s palliative care wasn’t needed but I can’t imagine that ever happening. The next 12 months are vital for us as we encourage the people of Yorkshire to help us meet this £2m target and transform the hospice for our children and their families - we really are relying on the public’s kindness and generosity.”

https://www.martinhouse.org.uk/the-build/donate/