Your Irish Hospice Foundation

News of your compassion reaching people touched by death and grief across Ireland – Autumn 2025

Comfort and Care, Every Night of the Year

365 nights a year, your kindness sends Nurses for Night Care, like Sharon, to the bedsides of people in every corner of the country. And at a time when more people than ever wish to take their final breaths in their own home, your generosity brings more comfort than you know. Thank you.

Nurse for Night Care for 14 years, Sharon, is what you might call an ‘old hand’,

“In my 14 years as a Nurse for Night Care, I’ve looked after everyone from weeks old babies to people over 100 years old.”

With your help, Sharon has cared for people from every walk of life in their final moments, and she sees with her own eyes the immeasurable peace and comfort your kindness brings to people who are dying, and those who love them.

A safe pair of hands

Sharon says she can often see the sheer relief in people’s eyes from the moment they open the door.

“By the time I reach a family they’re exhausted,” says Sharon. “I’ll assess the patient and if I think they’re safe to go on up to bed, I’ll tell them so. I say, ‘I’ll call you if there’s a change.’

There’s a real relief that their loved one is in safe hands, they’re trusting you with the person they love the most in their lives.”

Thanks to you, Sharon brings peace to those long, uncertain nights. She listens, she watches, she comforts. If a patient wakes in the night, agitated or frightened, she’s there to soothe. If they can’t speak, she tries music.

“You work by a process of elimination — are you uncomfortable in that position? Are the wrinkles in the bedsheets bothering you?”

Not everyone has family or friends to rally in those final moments. But whether someone is surrounded by family or has no one, because of you, nobody is alone at the end.

“She had nobody… except her dog.”

“There was this lovely woman I cared for, I’ll call her Mary. She lived alone, but she had this collie dog, Eddie, who she absolutely adored. She’d rescued him from someone who abused him. He was everything to her.”

Mary was adamant she wanted to be at home with her dog when she died.

“She’d made arrangements for Eddie. But she said, ‘He needs to know I’ve died. I don’t want Eddie thinking I’ve abandoned him’. That was her biggest concern.”

Thanks to your kindness, she got her wish. She died peacefully, in her own bed, with her best friend cuddled up next to her.

Because of your generosity, Sharon was there with Mary when it mattered most. Not just to deliver end-of-life care, but to protect something sacred — the choice to die at home, in comfort and dignity, with the ones you love.

3,130 nights of care were delivered last year, thanks to your kindness. Thank you!

Nurses for Night Care: 5 Things You Might Not Know.

A service for all
While the average age is 84, Nurses for Night Care help people of all ages — from newborns to centenarians — who wish to spend their final nights at home.

3 nights of care
On average, patients need 3 nights care — some need up to 10. Every precious hour is possible thanks to your kindness.

Hearts and minds
End-stage dementia and heart failure are the most common reasons for needing a Nurse for Night Care — but your kindness also helps people with end-stage lung disease, neurological diseases, and even children born with rare birth conditions.

An ever-growing need
More people than ever want to die at home. Demand has risen by 20% in just 5 years.

Nurse Sharon on the profound gift you give:

“The people your kindness reaches are at the very end of their lives. But to be able to choose where your life will end — it matters. And it means the world to the families left behind. Never underestimate what a profound gift it is that you give.”

“I don’t know what I’m for anymore…”

Grief takes so much from you. But thanks to your steadfast support of our Bereavement Support Line, you’re helping people like Helen who feel lost and alone in grief.

Every week, 28 people* like Helen, who feel broken and battered by grief, pick up the phone and call our Bereavement Support Line. Thanks to you, a caring voice answers.

“When someone you have loved so deeply dies, it feels like the world has slipped off its axis,” says Catherine, manager of our Bereavement Support Line (BSL).

“I remember one caller, I’ll call her Helen, whose husband had just died. She’d been caring for him for years through dementia,” says Catherine. “Her whole life was devoted to him, so when he died she felt utterly lost. She was saying — I don’t know what I’m for anymore.”

Thanks to your compassion and empathy for Ireland’s grieving hearts, Helen heard words of comfort and had a safe space to grieve.

“Our job is to help people feel heard,” says Catherine. “Grief throws everything at you. Sadness, guilt, anger, even relief — all of it is valid. Sometimes, people just need someone to say, what you’re feeling is okay.”

Helen called more than once. And she knows, thanks to you, she can call anytime.

Thank you for your kindness, your empathy and for sitting with people in grief. And remember, if you need us we’re here for you too. Call our BSL on 1800 80 70 77, Monday to Friday 10am to 1pm.

One Final Wish.

What if someone you love wanted to die at home?

Caring for someone you love in those final days and nights is no small promise to make.

Thanks to your kind support, we’ve just launched a suite of new resources to guide people through the tender, but often challenging experience of caring for a loved one at home until the very end. Resources include —

• Dying Well at Home, a plain-English guide on what to expect.
• A practical online learning programme.
• Free Information and Support Line, 1800 60 70 66.

Thank you for helping families stay together, until the very end.

For Your Peace of Mind.

Making sure you have an up-to-date will is an act of love you can set in motion today to protect the ones you love, and if you choose — the causes you care about too.

As one of Irish Hospice Foundation’s most caring supporters, we’re giving you the chance to write or update your will for free — No charge. No catch. No strings attached.

If you’d like more information on writing your will for free visit our webpage or, call 01 679 3188 and ask for Anna.

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