Willow Burn Hospice opened in 1989 as a result of two remarkable women, Irene Mortimer and Valerie Davison who identified a gap in provision in the largely rural area of Derwentside. With the support of the Secretary of State and funding from Macmillan, Irene and Valerie set up Derwentside Hospice Care Foundation, a Day Hospice Service for North Durham. Over the years. the charity has become fondly known as Willow Burn Hospice and the rest as they say, is history.
The Willow Burn Day Hospice service expanded in 1991 to include in-patient services and in 2014, we opened the Sir Tom Cowie Health and Wellbeing Centre as a new home for our day services provision. That brings us to present day, and following a very generous donation from Helen McArdle CBE, we have opened a brand new six-bed hospice.
Willow Burn has been purpose-built to reflect the comfort of being at home. At a time when peace and tranquillity is needed the most, our tean provides a safe and quiet haven. The focus is on the individual and their needs through the provision of high-quality community based care.
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