FOR MANX PEOPLE, Hospice Isle of Man is vital. The island's only provider of specialist palliative and end-of-life care — offered at no cost to the patient — receives nearly 400 referrals a year. Of these, 200 are admitted to its purpose-built 12-bed inpatient unit in Douglas, and to Rebecca House, its children's wing. The day-therapy centre of this new entry to our list sees more than 1,000 patients a year, and the education department provides 2,000 teaching hours. Care is not limited to the hospice itself: staff also spend 5,000 hours visiting children at home, for parents to have a break, and 1,000 hours going to see adult patients. Employees (most commonly registered nurses) know their work is important, and give a positive score of 87% — the highest among all small organisations — for not being bored by their jobs. The largely female workforce (women outnumber men by nearly eight to one) says managers are good role models (80%) who care how satisfied people are in their jobs (81%) — both scores rank second overall. They also help employees to fulfil their potential (79%), and care about them (84%). Both are top-five results. www.hospice.org.
