Urgent appeal from Mid Sussex hospice for support as it faces ‘biggest challenge in its history’

St Peter & St James Hospice, based in North Chailey and serving Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill and the surrounding villages, offers a range of expert services to support adults living with terminal illness as well as their families.

Since the charity receives limited government funding its finances have been severely affected with the temporary closure of charity shops and the cancellation of fundraising events during the coronavirus lockdown.

The charity described the situation as the ‘biggest challenge in its history’ due to an unprecedented estimated minimum loss of £1.35million over the coming months.

For the duration of the pandemic, its community support and wellbeing services are being delivered remotely and by telephone, while the inpatient ward, where people are admitted for either symptom control or end of life care, remains open with thorough hygiene and infection prevention measures in place for all.

As well as continuing to care for its own patients, the team will be supporting the wider nursing effort in Sussex, stepping in to look after vulnerable people transferred to the hospice from local hospitals, to help free up urgent care beds for those in the community who require them for Covid-19 treatment.

Claire Birnage, a nurse on the ward, is the face of the charity’s Covid-19 Emergency Appeal and is urging people where they can to give generously to support the hospice through the crisis and futureproof its vital services.

She said: “This pandemic is impacting all of us, but for vulnerable local people with terminal illness, those who love them, and for our charity as a whole, this is an extremely worrying time.

“I never imagined I would be nursing under these circumstances, but my colleagues and I will continue to provide the expert and compassionate care we are so proud of.

“Sadly, impacting everybody staying here, there are going to be many occasions where families cannot be together over the coming weeks.

“We will do our very best to facilitate connection between families and friends in other ways, and will bring everyone we look after as much love, comfort, joy and reassurance as we possibly can during the unsettling days ahead.

“I am incredibly proud to be on the frontline during this effort, and to be easing the pressure on our local hospitals, but to put it simply, we cannot do this alone.

“We rely on our generous community to cover over 80 per cent of the hospice’s running costs and now – more than ever – as we find ourselves in this extraordinary state of emergency, I need them to stand with us and give generously.”

You can support St Peter & St James Hospice through this crisis by donating online.

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

Thank you for reading this story on our website.

But I also have an urgent plea to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality local news on this free-to-read site and in print, please purchase a copy of our newspaper as well. With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on our town centres and many of our valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you buying a copy.

Our journalists are highly trained by the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards anywhere in the world. Our content is universally trusted - as all independent research proves.

As Baroness Barran said in a House of Lords debate this week on the importance of journalists: “Not only are they a trusted source of facts, but they will have a role to play in rallying communities and getting the message across about how we can keep ourselves and our families safe, and protect our NHS. Undoubtedly, they have a critical role.”

But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis. In return we will continue to forensically cover the local news - not only the impact of the virus but all the positive and uplifting news happening in these dark days.

In addition, please write to your MP urging the Government to provide some additional financial support for local newspapers and their websites like this one and ensuring that supermarkets continue to stock them. I cannot stress enough how important such an intervention would be.

We thank all our readers and advertisers for their understanding and support - and we wish YOU all the best in the coming weeks. Keep safe, and follow the Government advice. Thank you.