The surge in coronavirus infections over the winter has increased the strain felt by hospices above and beyond that of last year. As a result, we have given a grant of £25,000 to Greenwich and Bexley Community Hospice to support their community nursing work during lockdown.
The hospice currently has 600 community nursing cases, compared to an average of 400 cases before Covid. These are members of the local community who are terminally ill, many of whom would previously have gone to hospital but do not want to engage with hospitals at this time. The work of the hospice’s community nurses, visiting these patients in their homes and providing the care they need to be comfortable without having to leave their familiar surroundings and loved ones, helps to ease their final weeks and days. It also eases pressure on the NHS, as these community patients are not using ambulances or hospital beds, leaving these stretched resources available for emergency Covid cases.
Our award of £25,000 will help to cover the cost of community nursing care for almost half a year.