HRH The Prince of Wales meets Marie Curie Nursing Ambassador

Notes to editor

Marie Curie is one of the UK’s largest charities. Employing more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, it provided care to more than 31,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in its nine hospices last year and is the largest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS.

The National Trust
The National Trust cares for 300 inspiring historic houses and gardens across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. From former workers' cottages to the most iconic stately homes, and from mines and mills to theatres and inns, the stories of people and their heritage are at the heart of everything it does. People of all ages, individuals, schools and communities get involved each year with its projects, events and working holidays and over 61,000 volunteers help to bring the properties alive for the Trust's 3.8 million members. Find out more at: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/

Royal Patronage
His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales was appointed Royal Patron of Marie Curie in February 2003.

The Great Daffodil Appeal is the Marie Curie’s flagship fundraiser and aims to raise £5.5million.  Everyone across the UK is encouraged to give a donation in return for a Marie Curie daffodil pin. All money raised enables Marie Curie Nurses to provide more free care to people with a terminal illness in their own homes and the charity’s hospices.  To make a £3.00 donation to the Great Daffodil Appeal please text DAFF to 70777 now.*

(*Each text costs £3.00 plus your standard network message rate. At least 73% from each donation will go to Marie Curie Cancer Care, depending on the network; some networks pay 100%. By texting, you agree that we may use your number to call and send SMS about our work and fundraising activities.  For full terms and conditions, visit http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/mobileterms)

Marie Curie has launched a virtual collection tin app for anyone who wants to fundraise for the appeal.  The app gives people a quick and simple way to send text messages to their contacts, asking them to donate to Marie Curie. People can choose to donate either £2 or £5 in reply to the text message and are charged via their mobile phone bill, removing the need for any bank details to be provided.  The app can be downloaded from relevant app stores, or by texting DAFF to 82727.**

(** Text donations for £2 or £5 can be made by texting 2 or 5 to 70800. The donation amount, plus one standard rate SMS will be charged to the mobile phone bill. A minimum of £1.52 or £4.39 goes to Marie Curie.)

Funding
Around 70 per cent of the charity’s income comes from the generous support of thousands of individuals, membership organisations and businesses, with the balance of our funds coming from the NHS.

Marie Curie Nurses
The charity is best known for its network of Marie Curie Nurses working in the community to provide end-of-life care, totally free for patients in their own homes.

Research
The charity has two centres for palliative care research, the Marie Curie Palliative Care Research Unit at University College London and the Marie Curie Palliative Care Institute Liverpool. It also supports palliative and end of life care research through its project grant funding streams, the Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Programme (administered by Cancer Research UK) and the Dimbleby Marie Curie Cancer Care Research Fund.

Supporting the choice to die at home
Research shows around 65 per cent of people would like to die at home if they had a terminal illness, with a sizeable minority opting for hospice care. However, more than 50 per cent of cancer deaths still occur in hospital, the place people say they would least like to be. Since 2004 Marie Curie has been campaigning for more patients to be able to make the choice to be cared for and die at home.