Help patients ‘enjoy Christmas as much as possible’

Joasia Lesniak, head of fundraising at the Whirlow hospice, said: “This Christmas, you can make a huge difference to people across Sheffield, affected by terminal illness.

“The people we care for have more need than ever to make the most of every moment, particularly special occasions like Christmas.

“Our teams will be working as hard as ever throughout the festive season to care for patients and support them with pain and symptom management, enabling them to have the best possible Christmas.

“This festive season, most of our patients will be cared for in their own homes by our community team and our community nurses support patients with relief from symptoms and can work with GPs and other health professionals to develop care programmes to meet their individual needs.

“Other patients may be staying with us on our In Patient Centre, where they will have round the clock, specialist care from our team of medical consultants, specialist registrars, doctors and nurses.

“Any gift you are able to give, will help us to continue caring for patients so they can enjoy their Christmas as much as possible.”

St Luke’s says a £6 donation could help fund the cost of Christmas dinner and making Christmas special for patients on the St Luke’s In Patient Centre.

It says a gift of £18 could contribute to the ongoing cost of providing 24-hour specialist palliative care for up to 20 patients at a time on the In Patient Centre, while £48 could help provide the St Luke’s community nursing team with personal protective equipment and kit for their rapid response equipment bags.

The hospice is also asking for a monthly donation, which helps ‘rebuild a regular income’.

Joasia said: “This year been incredibly tough for St Luke’s and we will suffer the financial impact of this pandemic for years to come.

“Making a regular monthly gift can help us to rebuild a regular, predictable income towards our patient care. It truly is the gift that keeps on giving.”

See stlukeshospice.org.uk