Marie Curie (charity)
UK charity providing hospice care and campaigning for terminal illness support.
Marie Curie is a UK registered charity that provides hospice care and support for people with any terminal illness and those close to them. Established in 1948, the same year as the National Health Service, it campaigns for better support for dying people and is the largest charitable funder of palliative and end-of-life care research in the United Kingdom.
Quick Facts
- Founded
- 6 July 1948
- Location
- Marie Curie, One Embassy Gardens, 8 Viaduct Gardens, London, SW11 7BW
- Region served
- United Kingdom
- Focus
- Health care
- Health policy
- Hospice care
- Terminal illness care
- Palliative care
- End-of-life care
- Research
- Nursing
- Leader
- The King
- Former name
- Marie Curie Cancer Care
- Marie Curie Memorial Foundation
- Marie Curie Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases
Facts from the source article.
History
The Marie Curie Hospital was founded in Hampstead, North London in 1930, staffed entirely by women to treat female cancer patients with radiology. Marie Curie gave permission for her name to be used. Most of the hospital was destroyed in a 1944 air raid. In 1948, Bernard Robinson OBE and a committee re-established it separately from the newly formed NHS, creating the Marie Curie Memorial Foundation. The charity continued using Marie Curie's name with permission from her daughter Eve. The first appeal, launched after the donation of an engagement ring, raised £4,000.
Hospices
Marie Curie Hospices provide specialist care through inpatient, outpatient, and virtual services. They are free at the point of access, funded by a combination of statutory NHS funding and voluntary contributions. In the financial year 2021/22, 59% of hospice funding came from charitable donations and 41% from the NHS.
Policy and research
Marie Curie is the UK's leading charitable funder of palliative and end-of-life care research. It funds its own researchers and works in partnership with other organisations. Research project grants are awarded annually through the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme, with applications subject to external peer review and a final decision by an independent funding committee. The charity supports two long-term Palliative Care Research Facilities: the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit at UCL and the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Centre at Cardiff University. It hosts an annual research conference and runs a Research Facilitator Programme at hospices in Belfast, Edinburgh, and the West Midlands.
Fundraising
Marie Curie adopted the daffodil emblem in 1986. Its biggest fundraising campaign, The Great Daffodil Appeal, takes place throughout March each year. The charity raises money through charity shops, corporate partnerships, philanthropy, mass participation events, social events, direct giving, digital and TV campaigns, gifts in wills, and bucket collections. On 23 March 2021, Marie Curie led the first National Day of Reflection to commemorate those who died during the coronavirus pandemic and support bereaved people; this returned for a second and third year in 2022 and 2023.
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