“SOBELL House is not a frightening place” is the message that staff and volunteers at the Oxford Hospice are trying to get across as they hold open days this week.

For the first time in the hospice’s 33-year history, it is staging an open week, so that people can learn more about the work done at the centre.

Kath Morris, head of fundraising, said: “People tend to think Sobell House is the end of the road, and what we are trying to get across is that is not the case.

“People can come in under our care and live for another 10 years.

“We nurse people who have life-limiting illnesses – but that limit could be three days or it could be years.”

The hospice, at the Churchill Hospital, in Roosevelt Drive, Oxford, was originally built and paid for by businessman and philanthropist Sir Michael Sobell in 1976 and opened by the Duchess of Kent.

A new £3.5m building opened in 2003 with funds raised by the Sobell House Hospice Charity.

As well as 18 inpatient beds, used both for end-of-life and respite care, the centre has a thriving day centre where people can come for therapy, pain management and social activities.

There is also a community team, which means professionals based at the hospice can visit patients in their own homes and on wards in the John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals.

While about 20 people die at the hospice each week, Sobell House is also a place where weddings are held, where sick people can bring in their dogs, and where a drinks trolley – complete with vodka, gin and whisky – makes rounds twice a day.

Mrs Morris said: “We like to feel we support the whole family network of a patient right the way through.

“There are very few families in Oxfordshire that do not know somebody who was cared for here, or have had somebody in here.

“This open week is designed to raise awareness about what we do and get people to understand that it is not a frightening place.”

Each year about 800 people are cared for in hospice beds, with 4,000 home visits, and up to 3,000 day patients.

Most have cancer, but many people with other life-limiting conditions including AIDS and motor neurone disease are also admitted.

The hospice is NHS-run and funded, but each year the charity contributes up to £1.5m to the NHS towards its running costs, and aims to raise £2m to pay for extras.

Its biggest fundraising event is the annual Moonlight Stroll through Oxford.

Sobell House has thrown open its doors this week to shatter myths surrounding hospices – and has invited local schools to have a look.

Tonight, there will be a concert featuring performances from the Blackbird Leys Choir and patients.

Fundraiser Kevin Game said: “I had some trepidation when I started the job, affected as I was by many of those stigmas and concerns that many people have about hospices.

“However, I was immediately bowled over by how friendly, bright and upbeat the place was.”

  • It was husband Deme’s prostate cancer that brought Joan Brice to Sobell House in the early 1990s.

Mrs Brice, who lives in Grandpont, Oxford, took her husband to the hospice for six months for short respite periods, until his death, aged 61, in 1992.

She said: “He wasn’t sure he really wanted to be there, but once he had been for the first weekend, he was so much more relaxed and happy about it.

“They were so wonderful to him.”

Mr Brice spent his last four days in the hospice, accompanied by his wife for his last two days.

But that was not the end of Mrs Brice’s connection with the hospice. Eleven years ago she began volunteering in the office.

Now she looks after collection boxes in pubs and shops across the county.

She said: “Their support for me was absolutely crucial because at home we couldn’t get on top of the pain.

“I felt I had a debt that I wanted to repay and I enjoy doing it very much.

“The first time I returned to the hospice after he died it was difficult.

“Then gradually I realised he couldn’t have had better care anywhere.”

  • To find out more about the work of the hopsice and how to help with fundraising, see its website.