Due to the unprecedented times we find ourselves in at the moment, Sobell House Hospice has never been busier. Our care and clinical teams are working flat out to provide compassionate care for every patient who needs them at the end of their life. And the community across the whole of Oxfordshire, have never needed them more.

The goal of giving someone a dignified, peaceful death has not changed but the challenge of providing that for a patient in the midst of this crisis is enormous. Staff have turned their working lives upside down to help. Nurses from our Lymphedema clinic have become frontline staff once more. The team have created new, extra bed spaces for non-Covid-19 patients who are able to leave the Churchill Hospital next door. This will place a new, significant burden on all staff at the hospice; but it will free up vital hospital beds that will be needed over the next few weeks and months.

The unique care that the Sobell Hospice team provides was already a lifeline for local families. But, sadly, so many more will need compassionate end-of-life care; which your donation could help pay for. The second request is therefore for the loved ones who are left behind following a death. Because of the virus, distressingly, many families will just not be able to be with their loved one in their final days. Our team are planning to send small remembrance cards and olive-wood hearts for families to hold onto until a full funeral or remembrance service can be held. Unfortunately, many more families are going to need this service. Your donation could help support a family through their grief and give them someone with whom to share their feelings and worries.

Lastly, we want to reach and say thank you to every single member of hospice staff who are putting their own welfare on the line each day to care for others in our community. We have therefore created a new Staff Care Fund which is there to give nurses, clinicians and vital support staff as much practical and emotional support as we can in these incredibly stressful times. We have already been able to provide some simple things. The large fruit basket that we keep topped up in the hospice for everyone to share has been very gratefully received. We've also provided free bottles of soothing gels for baths and showers for staff to take home at the end of a very long shift. We would like to expand this fund to also be able to buy vouchers to say thank you for staff who have gone far beyond the call of duty. And we'd like to buy audiobooks or relaxation apps for them to have when they get home. We can't help them while theyre working in the hospice, coping with the incredible pressures their jobs bring. But your donation could help to show how much we all appreciate their service and help them to stay healthy at work and relaxed at home.

Our charity team is ready to help our frontline colleagues in any way they need us over the coming months. But we rely on the generosity of people like you to keep going. So, please, give what you can today.