The Bolton Hospice has launched a 'sponsor a nurse' campaign, to boost nurse numbers and improve the education and training they receive.
More than 700 patients and families are treated by the hospice, with nurses delivering care in both the hospice and a patient's home. According to the hospice, the demand for their services is growing, and the team of nurses must expand to ensure that patients still receive compassionate care at the end of their life.
'Sponsoring a nurse starts from a donation of just £3 a month – many people wouldn’t even miss this, yet it can make a big difference in helping our nurses provide care, hope and support for patients and families when they need it most,' said Alice Atkinson, director of income generation and communications at Bolton Hospice. 'We’ve recently expanded our services to meet the growing demand for our care, so we are calling upon local people to sponsor a nurse and help us grow and maintain a team of nurses with the specialist clinical skills and compassion that hospice care needs.”
A donation of £22 a month is enough to train a new nurse, while £3 a month could help a nurse care for a day patient, and £10 a month could help nurses care for and support a dying patient and their family at home. All supporters of the campaign will receive a special badge as a thank you from the hospice.
‘Working as a volunteer on the inpatient unit inspired me to become a nurse and I knew I wanted to work for the hospice,’ said Robyn Cullen, a nurse in the hospice’s inpatient unit. ‘The best thing about my job is spending time with patients and families and really getting to know them as people so that I can provide the care and support they need.’