Kerry Hospice Foundation (KHF)

Kerry Hospice Foundation (KHF) has a clear and targeted view of its work. It is to support the delivery of professionally led palliative care services in Kerry. KHF does this by raising awareness, money and providing clear leadership and focus.

Established in 1990, supporting those who are living with an advancing / life limiting illness, our original vision was solely to help deliver services at home. It became clear that the ideal was a hybrid model, with a mixture of palliative care at home and the more complex care that could only be delivered in a larger facility.

So we started to build. Phase one was the Day Care Unit, and Phase two was the 15 bedroom inpatient unit which has been operating in excess of 100% capacity since it opened in 2017. Demographic issues, in the form of an ageing population, a growing population and a relative excess of serious illnesses that require expert palliative care have all combined to create extra pressure on our state of the art facilities. Demand for palliative care services has expanded greatly in recent years, driving the need for more staff and more beds.

Kerry Hospice Foundation in agreement with the HSE have commenced building and fitting out 5 extra bedrooms and upgrade works to the existing facility. We broke ground on this project in October 2025 and plan to have some of these rooms opened by late 2026 or early
2027. Kerry will benefit from having adequate inpatient capacity for critical palliative care services, for the foreseeable future.

Currently we are fundraising to support the employment of a number of Advanced Nurse Practitioners which are a valuable addition to the Specialist Palliative Care services in Kerry. Accelerating building costs, as well as the complexity of dealing with a live site, mean that
this building will cost as much, if not more , than the original inpatient unit. Therefore we are delighted that we will be working with the Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle which will help to provide vital funds for the completion of Phase 3 of our Project. This will enable us to
continue to deliver world class palliative care for the people of Kerry.

We hope you will never need the hospice but the hospice will always need you.