DTM Legal have recently pledged support to Nightingale House Hospice to help roll out a plan to make care services accessible across the local community.
Due to the COVID 19 pandemic the Hospice has had to adapt services to sustain safe patient care whilst continuing to protect the healthcare team. This has ensured that the most vulnerable with life limiting illnesses were still supported.
The direct admission service for people with a life-limiting diagnosis eg cancer, heart failure and neurological conditions has helped alleviate the increased demands on the NHS Provisions and has enabled patients to self-refer and access hospice services more promptly. The inpatient service has remained fully operational and the Hospice has maintained support to regular outpatients via a ‘virtual service’ and has delivered group video calls for patients with similar challenges and across the Family support Team who have experienced loss due to COVID, a time when the community needs the support the most.
Going forward with funding Nightingale House Hospice will continue to provide in-patient and outpatient services. Over and above this the Hospice has planned to roll out a Positive Action Programme to support patients with chronic cancer (treatable but not curable cancer) who will have increasing concerns with fear, worry and/or anxiety together with prolonged fatigue and difficulty sleeping and to help them achieve an improvement in their quality of life.
In addition, Nightingale House Hospice will also be rolling out a ‘Here to Help Project’ which aims to provide an information, support and signposting service within the communities. Volunteers will be recruited and trained to open up 9 Weekly Community Information Points, 8 of which will be established in communities at least 10 miles away from the actual Hospice, the 9th being in Wrexham Town Centre. The catchment area that Nightingale serves is expansive as far reaching as Barmouth, East Denbighshire, Wrexham and Flintshire and with the COVID crisis more people have been fearful of travelling the distance to the Hospice. In this way the Hospice will be taking the services closer to those in need.
In order to continue to provide the specialist palliative care services and the range of rehabilitation services including occupational therapy, hydrotherapy, physiotherapy, breathlessness, fatigue and anxiety management, art and music therapy and a Family Support Department the Hospice will need to continue to raise £3,435,94.00 annually. Only 18 % comes from statutory funding. To make up the £2.8 million shortfall the Hospice has been reliant on fundraising but sadly due to the pandemic this has been decimated. Their Cafes and the 11 shops were forced to close and all the traditional avenues were restricted. The revised fundraising plan however includes a new project of Build a Balloon that DTM have been excited to support. This is to commemorate their 25th Anniversary with the aim that the balloon will be ready for launch in the summer. Over the next 3 years the balloon will take to the skies across the region to promote the Hospice and its services.
‘DTM Legal are delighted to sponsor the balloon alongside a number of local firms. We are keen to ensure that the important work of the Hospice continues and that the most vulnerable in our community are supported during the current pandemic crisis and beyond. The clinical services in palliative care are second to none and we want to ensure they are still available in the future months,’ said Richard Thomas, Partner DTM Legal.
‘We will continue with our in-house fundraising efforts too. Before Christmas we were busy with Christmas jumpers, antlers, tombolas, decorating desks all to raise funds for the Hospice. It was lots of fun and we will look to do more in 2021.’
For more details of Nightingale House Hospice please visit https://www.nightingalehouse.co.uk/ and to donate please click on the following link https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/DTM-Legal3
