Are hospice services continuing as normal?
Here at St Mary’s Hospice we’ve looked at every service separately to see how we can best keep the people using our services, their families, our staff and our volunteers safe during this crisis while still providing the care that is needed.
What about the usual Hospice Services?
Living Well and Bereavement Services: We have cancelled face to face services because most of our clients fall into the group where it is recommended to self-isolate. Instead of this we’re keeping in touch by phone and also working to make sure they can access medication or food. Bereavement services are also being provided by phone
Hospice at Home: Hospice at Home continues as normal using a ‘phone ahead’ protocol where staff check before a visit:
a) if the person still wants someone to enter their house
b) if anyone in the house has COVID symptoms
As well as supporting community nursing teams to care for patients with palliative needs, they are also providing care for other patients, helping to keep people out of hospital. Working with local NHS teams, we aim to maintain a good level of support within the community, even when the In-Patient Unit re-opens.
Complementary Therapy: This service this service has stopped for present and staff will be deployed into our clinical team.
What else are you doing?
From our Ulverston building: From our Ulverston building- some staff are able to do their normal job from home while those staff who cannot do their normal jobs at this time are running reception for us and as time goes on will help by working on laundry and kitchen services.
What are your volunteers doing? One third of our volunteers are over 70 and we hope they are all self-isolating safely. We’re offering support to those who don’t have support living locally. We’re grateful that some volunteers can continue in their roles and will keep in touch with all our volunteers updates.
What about your finances?
What about events? Many of our events have had to be cancelled for the moment and we hope to reschedule some of them when possible. We hope you’ll join us then! In the mean time our supporters are sharing the wonderful ways they are fundraising for us on social media.
What about events other people put on for you? Some of these have been cancelled and some are being reviewed regularly to make the right decision at the right time
What about your shops? All St Mary’s Hospice Shops and Warehouse are currently closed. We would like to thank all our loyal customers and donors for your continued support.
What about the café? The café is currently closed and we look forward to welcoming you back when we can with cake and a cuppa!
What does this mean for the hospice financially? The hospice needs to raise £3.2 million a year to carry on. We expect to lose between £100,000 to 200,000 each month while we are shut. It is critical that we start to raise funds again as soon as possible after the situation is safe.
Thank you for your support and stay safe.