Hospices provide care for people from the point at which their illness is diagnosed as terminal to the end of their life, however long that may be. This doesn’t mean that hospice care needs to be continuous; people sometimes like to take a break from hospice care if their condition has become stable and they are feeling well.

Good hospice care places a high value on dignity, respect, and the wishes of the person who is ill. It provides for medical, emotional, social, practical, psychological and spiritual needs, together with the needs of the person’s family and carers. Looking after all these aspects is often referred to as holistic care. Care also extends to those people who are close to the patient, and into the bereavement period after the patient has died.