THERE is a danger we sometimes take hospices like Helen & Douglas House for granted.

We know they do good work but until they directly affect you there is an unconscious lack of grasp about just what a service they provide.

But in these bleak times when you read of so many public service cuts, we urge you to give time over the next six days to read our series on hospices and consider their circumstances.

They provide such a key element of healthcare yet are not guaranteed state funding.

In many ways they are a pre-Cameron example of Big Society because they provide all this help and care purely through altruistic outlook.

Look at the families we feature today. They face enormous struggles that are difficult to cope with.

Yet there is Helen & Douglas House, offering that support, that care, that companionship and that outlet which hopefully gives these families the strength to cope and carry on.

We are so much better off for the work of all our hospices.