History of the Hospice

In 1985 the hospice bore little recognition to the full-scale service that it is today. Then it was a one-room operation in Tredegar with just an answer phone - and two people who had a vision for the future of cancer care in Blaenau Gwent.

But today the hospice has seven nurses, two social workers, a chief executive, two benefits workers, a consultant in palliative medicine, 130 volunteers, four admin staff, a part-time doctor and two fundraisers – together with six charity shops and several drop-in clinics across the borough.

The two people who started this service are Dr Richard Lamerton, now retired, and our Clinical Sevices Director, Jayne Medlicott MBE. Back in 1984, Dr Lamerton was working for St Michael’s Hospice in Hereford - and his aim was to set up a home care service. Then artist Robin Judah – who has been the Hospice of the Valleys’ biggest patron - offered to pay his salary if he started that service for Herefordshire. It very quickly spread to Worcester, Gloucester, Gwent and Powys and soon we were visiting in the Forest of Dean, Stroud and Malvern and Gloucester, Ludlow, Radnor and Builth Wells, Llandrindod Wells and Abergavenny.

Jayne attended one of Richards lectures at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny – at the time she had just lost her husband who died of cancer. She realised how inadequate the support in Blaenau Gwent was and approached Richard after the lecture to say there was a desperate need in the valleys and invite him to extend the service in to Blaenau Gwent.Although severey stretched they looked into it and as soon as Blaenau Gwent became part of the service the GPs took us to their hearts and made tremendous use of us.

Neil Kinnock and the Archbishop of Wales, Rowan Williams became Patrons and the whole project was relaunched. It was named Hospice of the Valleys and the home care service was limited to Blaenau Gwent and only one or two other areas in Monmouthshire. Additional nurses were employed the team grew into what it is today. In 2004 Dr Lamerton retired as the hospice doctor but he still works as a healer at the hospice’s Saturday clinics.

‘We still have the same mission now", he says, ‘Care starts from day of diagnosis – until cure or death and we will give whatever is necessary to enable people to have the death that they want.’