Hemel Hempstead businesses pay for nights of hospice at home care

Businesses in Hemel Hempstead and the surrounding areas stepped up to pay for vital nights of hospice at home care as part of Rennie Grove Hospice Care's annual Corporate Christmas Campaign which ran throughout December.

Despite this being a very challenging time for many, local firms made donations of over £50,000 to fund 83 nights of care throughout December and well into 2021.

Scannell Properties in Berkhamsted and Amazon Logistics in Hemel are just two of the 35 local businesses who supported the campaign to ensure that Rennie Grove’s overnight team could offer care and support at night, keeping patients out of hospital and at home with their families.

Lynda, who is a hospice at home nurse in the night team, said: “My colleagues and I have been able to respond to 630 phone calls and drive over 2,000 miles to visit patients and families in their own homes during December, offering specialist hospice at home care and advice between 9:15pm and 7:15am.

“Night-time is particularly hard for patients living with a life-limiting illness and their families.

"It can feel very lonely if a patient’s condition deteriorates and family members are worried, but knowing that there is specialist care and support available at any time of the day or night bowls people over, especially during the pandemic when so many care providers have stopped or reduced their services.

"Everyone is incredibly grateful that we are here for them and we in turn are very grateful to local businesses for helping us to make a difference in this way.”

Nicola Aquila, Corporate Partnerships Executive at Rennie Grove said: “The response to this year’s campaign has been particularly remarkable given the tough year many businesses have had.

“We saw our hospice at home patient numbers increase by 29% in 2019-20 and we know this trend is continuing, so this type of support is more vital than ever.

"We’d like to thank every business for their generous support. If your company would like to support us now or in the future, we’d be delighted to talk to you about the different ways we can work together for mutual benefit including our Corporate Patron Programme.”

For more details about the Corporate Patron Programme click here, or email [email protected].