The Paul Sartori Foundation (PSF), which provides home and palliative care from its base in Haverfordwest, has been awarded a prestigious GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Award of £25,000.

The annual awards run in partnership with the independent health charity The King's Fund, are in their 12th year, and recognise and reward the work of small to medium sized charities that are doing excellent work to improve the health of their communities.

The Paul Sartori Foundation is one of 10 charities chosen out of 350 entrants from across the UK and its work will be formally acknowledged at a ceremony at London's Science Museum on May 7. At the event, an overall winner will be announced, who will receive an additional £10,000.

PSF operates through the county to deliver a free, individually tailored, rapid response service, undertaking assessments and providing care within hours if necessary.

Named in memory of a local priest, who had noted the lack of any hospice facilities in this area, the Paul Sartori Foundation was established in 1982. It believes in offering people the choice to end their days at home it they should so wish, a preference that 70 per cent of the population of this area would like to exercise, but currently only 26 per cent are able to do so.

Lorna Johns, hospice director, commented: "It is marvellous for our small local charity to be acknowledged on a national level and is a sign that we are travelling in the right direction. This award recognises the commitment and enthusiasm of all our paid and unpaid staff, and will be used to extend our services to patients with non-cancer diagnoses."

PSF also runs a stand-by service, whereby families are encouraged to be in contact with PSF, even if help is not immediately needed. Families have a 24-hour contact number and can 'phone for help at any time. Early contact with a family through the standby service can speed up the provision of care when a call for assistance is received. Staff are available 24-hours a day, 365 days of a year, with the level of assistance varying from a few hours of respite care to round-the-clock support in the last days of life.

PSF also arranges equipment loans and offer free complementary therapy for patients and their families. It has run bereavement, befriending breast cancer and lymphoedema support groups and provides one-to-one emotional support pre and post bereavement. PSF represents the patient viewpoint in forums to share good practice, and its input has led to changes such as the standardisation of information available to carers. It runs an ongoing training and education programme for clinical staff.

Katie Pinnock, director, UK Corporate Contributions, GlaxoSmithKline, said: "It is very clear that PSF has filled a gap in providing accessible and high quality healthcare in an isolated part of the UK. It demonstrates all the hallmarks of an outstanding palliative care provider, tailoring to individual needs and treating everyone as an individual allowing a choice to patients and their families at a time when they need it most."

Niall Dickson, chief executive of The King's Fund, commented: "We know that most people want to die at home, yet our health and social care systems have not yet developed the services to enable this to happen. That's why the work of the Paul Sartori Foundation has been vital in providing greater choice and control to many people at the end of their lives, as well as to relatives and carers.

"Everyone approaching the end of life deserves high quality care and the Paul Sartori Foundation delivers this. This makes it a worthy winner."

For more information about the Paul Sartori Foundation, please visit http://www.paulsartori.wales.org">www.paulsartori.wales.org