South Bromley Hospice Care
Yvonne Griffiths was a founding member of South Bromley HospisCare, as well as working as a General Practitioner at Broomwood Road Medical Practice.
Dr Beryl Magrath worked tirelessly alongside Yvonne in setting up the hospice service in the 1980’s and she has written the following words about her.
At the end of 1982, when I was a consultant anaesthetist at Orpington Hospital, I asked the Medical Staff Committee for their support in setting up a hospice team, working both in the hospital and the community. My first contact was Yvonne, who I knew was deeply committed to good palliative care for dying people. We then set about making the hospice team a reality. We had help and support from Dr Keith Randell (a Consultant Pathologist) and Elizabeth Greenwood (a hospital and District Nurse. Keith’s son, Simon, was a local councillor and he persuaded the Mayor Elect, Joan Hatcher, to donate her years’ charitable monies to the project (about £10,000). This donation meant we had to make the Hospice Team a reality within her year of office. Keith also introduced us to Gordon Hughes, our first General Manager and to Sir Philip Harris, who promised us £5,000 for the next five years.
Yvonne and I spent many happy hours sitting in her beautiful garden in Mayfield Avenue, Orpington, with a background of pinging tennis balls, attempting to decide on a name for the hospice service. During that first frantic year, members of the Steering Group, particularly Yvonne and I, gave several talks to groups whom we thought may be interested in (and who might possibly make a financial contribution) the project. We also went to see Dr Cicely Saunders, from St Christopher’s Hospice, to ask for her support, advice and practical help. At her insistence, we agreed on the Hospice title as South Bromley HospisCare.
The launch of South Bromley HospisCare was in March 1984 at the Bromley Civic Centre. Our Team consisted of our first Specialist Palliative Care Nurse (Maureen Herr), our secretary/clerk of works (Janet Trethewey) and our 2 non-stipendiary doctors (Yvonne and myself). Joan Hatcher (Mayor of Bromley), Dame Cicely Saunders and Sir Philip Harris all spoke in support of South Bromley HospisCare.
Our first ‘home’ was in two rooms of a Nissen Hut at the top of the Orpington Hospital site. From there we grew as a team, with Elizabeth Greenwood appointed as our second specialist nurse. Yvonne remained with us as a medical adviser until 1995.
Yvonne died at home, aged 86, on 10th October 2020. She died with dignity and grace, as she had always lived her life, surrounded by her loving family.”