Heroes of care in Hertfordshire who make sure our loved ones can be home for Xmas

These heroes included 22 of Rennie Grove Hospice Care nurses who were working on Christmas Day and today (Boxing Day).

Their role, as it is 24 hours a day, is to ensure as many 
patients as possible – adults and children – can enjoy Christmas at home with their families.

Rennie Grove’s hospice at home nurses spent Christmas making planned visits to patients, perhaps checking or reloading a syringe driver to ensure they remain as comfortable and pain-free as possible, or supporting them with the side effects caused by treatment.

They’ll also respond to 
urgent calls from family 
members, which might mean giving advice over the phone or making a home visit to 
administer pain-relief or 
other types of nursing care.

Sue Varvel, director of nursing and cinical services at Rennie Grove, said: “Our nurses’ main aim at Christmas – as it is every day of the year – is to give patients the choice to be cared for at home, surrounded by their family and friends.

“Being with loved ones in a place you know and where you feel most comfortable is even more important at this time of year so our nurses will do everything in their power to prevent a patient having to be admitted to hospital at Christmas if that is not where they choose to be.

“Sometimes it’s sadly 
unavoidable, but by being at the end of a phone any time of the day or night - able to get to a patient as soon as symptoms occur – our nurses make it much more likely that patients can spend Christmas at home with their families.”

In December, Rennie Grove’s nurses will drive hundreds of miles across Herts and Bucks to make hundreds of visits to adults and children in need of specialist Hospice At Home care.

Sue adds: “It’s thanks to our wonderful supporters, volunteers and the local community that we are able to give so many patients this choice. Their generosity funds the £20,000 we need each day to run our service and helps patients and families create particularly precious memories at Christmas time.

“The memories may be priceless but there is a very real cost involved in making them happen, which we couldn’t hope to cover without the generosity of our supporters. So on behalf of Rennie Grove Hospice Care I would like to say a big thank you to everyone who has helped us this year and to wish them a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.”

> For more infomation visit
 www.renniegrove.org