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Alan Hudson Centre

Free personalised care and support for individuals living with life-limiting illness across Wisbech and the Fens. Providing Living Well servicestreatment and clinical days at the Day Centre based at North Cambs Hospital in Wisbech.

Nurse and female
females and male talking to each other
Man smiles whilst receiving treatment from nurse
Clinical treatments include blood transfusions
Man with his brightly coloured artwork
Living Well services includes creative and diversional therapies
Female nurse
Treatment and infusions can be received in the Centre's lounge
female sitting in a chair and female nurse standing next to her
The outside of the building with sign
Outside towards the entrance
HRH Duchess of Gloucester yellow dress smiling in garden shaking hands nurse in background
HRH The Duchess of Gloucester opens our improved Centre and garden
Nurse standing in front of a car
Hospice at Home visit the community

Specialist care and support

Providing expert care, which is holistic and tailored to each person’s specific needs by the multi-disciplinary team of highly qualified staff and dedicated volunteers.

Services include Living Well, treatment and clinical days (including blood transfusions, oncology and symptom management), complementary and diversional therapies, and bereavement and support services.  

Additionally, supporting patients and their families in their own homes through a Hospice at Home service and a community specialist palliative care service which ensures integrated care. Also providing clinical advice and support to palliative patients on the adjacent Trafford Ward. 

Living Well Service: Your path to empowerment and support

Embrace life despite limitations – Free personalised care and support for individuals living with life-limiting illness across Wisbech and the Fens.

  • Holistic, Tailored Support Programs: Personalised, weekly face to face sessions for up to twelve weeks.
  • Holistic Approach: Access to our complementary therapist and garden for a comprehensive approach to well-being.
  • Focused on Your Needs: We put you and your family at the centre of care, actively involving you in decision-making.
  • Symptom Management: Expert sessions addressing common issues such as anxiety, fatigue, and breathlessness.
  • Creative Therapies: Access to complementary therapies and creative activities such as music therapy, life celebration and memory making activities.
  • Emotional and Spiritual Support: Assistance in managing emotional and spiritual needs and support from our volunteer chaplain.
  • Future Planning: Help in planning for the future, including respect discussions, continuity of care and referral to other services when needed.

Redevelopment and expansion 

To support the increasing volume and changing needs of people who require care, the redevelopment and expansion works were undertaken at the Treatment Centre in 2019. The Hudson Foundation were the primary donor for the internal works, with the Friends of Wisbech Hospital and the Robert Hall Trust contributing additional funds.  

Offering space for private consultation, giving improved privacy and dignity; more treatment rooms with equipment to support patients with complex needsdedicated complementary therapy and diversional activity rooms; increased Hospice at Home services to improve end of life choicesadded rooms enabling us to support more patients and their families each day and a landscaped garden full of colour, creativity and flowers and plants to stimulate the senses, thanks to this extensive work.  

HRH Duchess of Gloucester yellow dress smiling in garden shaking hands nurse in background

You can read more about this and our official opening with HRH The Duchess of Gloucester HERE  

 

Creative Therapies

As well as accessing a specialist team who can help with symptom management and control, spiritual support and providing relaxing therapies, the Life Celebration Coordinator guides provides creative therapy sessions allowing patients to discover a new talent or enjoy a long-forgotten hobby.

You can download ’51 Questions’ below to help spark memories and conversations between patients and their family or friends, these can be used at anytime.  

Virtual Living Well services 

Our Cambridge based site is now delivering both face to face and Virtual Living Well services to patients. Where there is a need, we are able to refer patients into this scheme. Please note they will be supported by the team based in Cambridge for these sessions, rather than Wisbech. 

Patients will be invited to join via Zoom for a weekly programme of group sessions such as exercise, management of fatigue, anxiety or breathlessness, music therapy, relaxation and more.  

You can find a series of informative videos to support you and your family on our Living Well Services webpage (scroll to the bottom of the page to access the videos). 

Bereavement Support

You can access bereavement support, which is available to the family and friends of patients cared for by the Alan Hudson Day Treatment Centre, with both telephone and Zoom video calls in place, depending on what is most comfortable for you. 

You can also find other bereavement support and resources here: arhc.org.uk/bereavement/

and here:

arhc.org.uk//bereavement-support-resources

They wipe my tears and I, along with many other patients belong to the Alan Hudson family and I will say I am grateful to each and every staff member.

Patient at The Alan Hudson Centre

FAQ's

How can I get access to the services at the Alan Hudson Day Treatment Centre?

To get access to our services please ask your GP or healthcare professional to refer you.

For more details, telephone 01945 669620 or visit our website at arhc.org.uk.

1,219 patients were cared for across the Treatment Centre’s full range of services between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.

The Alan Hudson Day Centre is an Arthur Rank Hospice Charity service.

This means that whilst clinical care is delivered from the Centre at North Cambs Hospital in Wisbech, the service is supported by the business and administration framework of the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity. 

This includes aspects which are integral to the Centre’s every-day upkeep, such as facilities maintenance, finance management and administration, as well as volunteer, fundraising and communications support.  

The Treatment Centre is funded by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group, with additional funding received Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn for services provided for their patients. 

We are extremely grateful to our local community for the dedication, commitment and generosity they show in helping raise the additional funds needed annually to fund its care.   

Our extensive redevelopment and expansion were generously funded by The Hudson Foundation, who were the primary donor for the internal works, with the Friends of Wisbech Hospital and the Robert Hall Trust contributing additional funds. 

Services delivered by the Alan Hudson Centre are available free of charge to patients living with an advanced serious illness or life-limiting condition, and their families, in North Cambridgeshire and the Fens. 

Referrals can come from any healthcare professional so long as the patient has provided consent.

Patients are also able to refer themselves to the Alan Hudson Centre and will be assessed to see whether they match the criteria required for care. For more information visit How and when to seek a referral.

For further information, please call the team on 01945 669620.

Thanks to the dedication, commitment and generosity of the local community and the hard work of our senior leadership team to secure vital contracts with the NHSall our services are free of charge.      

Please visit our webpage (click here) to find out more about how we are funded. 

Face to Face appointments – we can offer free face-to-face Will writing and legal advice appointments with local solicitors who have kindly offered a certain amount of appointments each month.

To book one of these appointments just contact Rachael, Future Gifts Manager on 01223 675881 or email r.brown@arhc.org.uk 

Alan Hudson

Alan Harry Hudson was born in Wisbech in 1895 – one of five children born to Herbert and Helen Hudson. At the turn of the century the family lived at 51 Market Place, Wisbech and traded as Coal Merchants and Tobacconists. Alan Harry Hudson was educated at Wisbech Grammar School.By 1911 the family had moved to ‘Edina’, Harecroft Road and were now Tobacconists and Fruit Growers. The first orchard land had been purchased that year and was a 10-acre field at the junction of Bevis Lane and New Drove, Wisbech St Mary.

Alan Harry Hudson bought his first land in 1921. This was a 31-acre field which is the site of the present cold stores and the buildings in Bevis Lane.

In 1924 Alan Harry Hudson married Marjorie Pridmore who was one of three children born to James and Annie Pridmore of Broadgate, Sutton James. The family were farmers.

Alan Harry Hudson and Marjorie Hudson, who were destined never to have children, built their first home together on the land at Bevis Lane and it is known to this day as ‘Alma’.

In 1934 upon the death of his widowed mother, Alan Harry Hudson and Marjorie Hudson moved back to ‘Edina’, where they remained for the rest of their lives.

In the meantime, Alan Harry Hudson built up the fruit growing business by purchasing land in Bevis Lane, Lords Lane, Cross Lane and New Drove in Wisbech St Mary, totalling 180 acres or thereabouts.

In 1967 Alan Harry Hudson and Marjorie Hudson informed the District Council that they wanted to see a swimming pool built in the town and offered a gift of £30,000 towards the capital costs. The Council purchase land behind ‘Edina’ and “The Hudson Pool” was opened in 1972. Marjorie Hudson was a keen sportswoman and was particularly interested in swimming and tennis, indeed, she was captain of the Wisbech Ladies Tennis Club for over 20 years.

Female
Marjorie Hudson

On the death of Marjorie Hudson in 1979, Alan Harry Hudson established the ‘Hudson Foundation’ as a charitable trust and it is this foundation that continues to be so active in the Wisbech and Wisbech St Mary area today.
The Trustees of the Hudson Foundation have invested in the farm by increasing the acreage, adding new buildings and renewable energy sources – in the form of solar power and wind turbines – on the property to increase profitability which fund the charitable activities that continue today.

Alan Harry Hudson died in 1991 at the age of 91. In the press report of the funeral, Councillor Malcolm Moss, the then MP for Fenland, said:
“He was one of Wisbech’s greatest benefactors. His influence on the town has been almost as influential as that of the Peckover family. He has left important monuments to his generosity in the shape of the ‘Alan Hudson Day Centre’ and ‘Edina Court’”.

Many local activities have continued to benefit from the grants made to groups since his death and the generous and essential contributions made by the Foundation to the building in Wisbech. The centre, an Arthur Rank Hospice service, delivers care and support at the day centre and also provides Hospice at Home, specialist clinical advice and support for family and carers, at no cost to them.

Michelle Knight

Michelle Knight, Matron

Michelle is often one of the first faces you will see if you are visiting. She delivers treatments and gives specialist guidance and advice to patients and leads the team at the Alan Hudson Centre, ensuring they are well-supported at the Centre and whilst delivering care in people’s own homes. 

If you would like to support people in your community at the Alan Hudson Centre, please contact Toni Bird, Community Partnership Officer – email toni.bird@arhc.org.uk or give her a call on 07435 550995. 

Female outside Alan Hudson Day Treatment Centre with raffle rickets

There are hundreds of different ways you can support others and Toni would be delighted to hear from you!   

If you prefer to send a donation, please note that all cheques must be made payable to ‘Arthur Rank Hospice Charity’.  If you wish to restrict your donation to the ‘Alan Hudson Day Treatment Centre’ please indicate this by writing on the back.)  

North Cambs Hospital, The Park, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE13 3AB

01945 669620

How to find us, visit our contact page.

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