Nightingale House Hospice

all our face to face events were stopped. Despite this we managed to get a major fundraising campaign off the ground, with our unique Build A Balloon campaign, scheduled to take flight this summer. Individuals and companies can sponsor a panel to either celebrate a special event or promote their business on our very own Nightingale House balloon.

Fundraiser Sarah Povey said: “We value all of our corporate partners, in particular we enjoy developing relationships with new and old affiliates who can see the benefits their funding provides to the patients at the hospice. Our campaign for 2021, “Build a balloon”, allowed corporate sponsors to get involved and I was excited to be on the unique journey of creating our very own hot air balloon. It featured companies’ logos as well as individual panels that were sponsored by the general public.”

Our fundraising doesn’t just support those who need end of life care, but also aims to give our patients the tools and skills to enhance and improve their enjoyment and quality of life. We believe a holistic approach is equally as important. That’s why we provide individual and group support through complementary therapies, art and music therapy, emotional, psychological and spiritual support.

During lockdown we provided virtual support, advice, assessment and treatment to 450 patients, carers and health care professionals each month.

One thing we are not at Nightingale House is complacent! We are constantly adapting and developing our services and the pandemic has highlighted how important positive change is. That’s why we introduced our Direct Referrals Service. Whilst we accept direct referrals from all clinical colleagues, we now facilitate and coordinate requests for support from patients and their loved ones over the telephone.

Head of Clinical and Patient Services, Yvonne Lush believes the key message for potential service users is ‘Refer early, please don’t leave it too late’.

Yvonne said: “Patients and their families don’t need a doctor’s referral to ring us as we can follow up the detailed paperwork with district nurses and GP practices after the call. We are finding that it takes the stress off patients and their families.”

We are incredibly proud of the new facilities we can now offer following the completion of our recent modernisation project - a state of the art rehabilitation suite and treatment rooms, together with multi-use rooms with space to support families, including children and grandchildren.

To find out more about Nightingale House or if you would like to lend your support you can go to our website at www.nightingalehouse.co.uk.