“THERE is always hope ahead when you are here.” That’s how bladder cancer patient John McGee, 57, feels after six weeks at Oxford’s Sobell House Hospice.

He moved into the hospice at the Churchill Hospital site in Headington after an operation to have a tumour removed at the John Radcliffe.

Firefighter Mr McGee said: “It’s always a little bit daunting when you come in somewhere like this because you don’t know what to expect.”

But he added: “Everybody has been so friendly – they relax you down.”

He said staff supported him in his goal to return home.

Mr McGee, who is from High Wycombe and whose son, James, 24, lives in Wantage, has discovered an aptitude for art since coming to the hospice, and has also enjoyed massages.

But he said: “My favourite thing is the puddings, they are wonderful.

“It reminds me of my school days.”

Health care assistant Anne Field, one of the professionals supporting Mr McGee, has been at the hospice for eight years.

She said: “Friends say it must be really sad, but actually it’s a very calm and happy atmosphere.

“People come here at the most vulnerable times of their life and their families put their trust in us to take care of their loved ones – it is a privilege to work here.”

Last year 346 patients were cared for in the 20 in-patient beds at Sobell House, and 150 in the hospice’s day centre.

Day centre specialist palliative care nurse Lisa Smith has been at the hospice for six years.

She said: “It’s somewhere people can come to meet other people who are experiencing similar things, and enjoy a wide range of activities.

“People have preconceptions that when you come here death will come quite quickly, but when they arrive they are pleasantly surprised to find it's not all doom and gloom at all.”

It costs £4m to run the hospice each year, with £1.4m fundraising coming from the Sobell House Hospice Charity.

At Katharine House Hospice, in Adderbury, staff are marking 20 years of providing palliative care.

Director of nursing Bernadette Ross has been there since the beginning.

She said: “I hope it’s a place that delivers high standards of care in a homely environment.

“It’s a cheerful place that gives lots of hope and helps people to live well.

“Alongside that, people are very sick and need a lot of care and support, and it’s balancing between giving them life and supporting them at this time of crisis.”

There are 10 beds in the hospice and a day hospice which sees 12 patients a day, three days a week, with 250 patients being looked after within the hospice and community at any one time.

It costs £2.4m each year to run the hospice, with 40 per cent coming from the NHS and the remainder from fundraising.

Visit the websites sobellhospiceoxford.org and katharinehouse.co.uk to find out more about the work of the two hospices.