Rowans Hospice launches appeal as it faces 'unprecedented financial losses' due to coronavirus pandemic

Here we meet Jacquie Upton, clinical manager of the Hospice at Home team at the Rowans Hospice charity in Purbrook.

Since the government announced a national lockdown, Jacquie and her team have had to quickly adapt to new ways of working with the many logistical challenges COVID-19 has presented. Not only have their conventional nursing practices had to evolve, the additional pressures and practicalities of wearing PPE to ensure safe practice has also made a significant impact to them.

Even though we are all adapting to a new normal, the landscape in which the hospice operates remains fast-paced, often fuelled with anxieties and concerns for their patients and loved ones, and of course, their own personal safety too.

From the start, and like all other frontline healthcare providers, the availability of PPE has been of great concern. Some has been sourced through the NHS, but the charity has been touched by the generosity and kindness shown by so many in the community who have donated scrubs, scrubs hats, scrubs laundry bags, gloves, masks, goggles and full-face visors to ensure personal safety when visiting patients in their homes.

Coupled with the anxieties of working on the frontline, Jacquie’s nurses have also found themselves managing and easing the many worries and anxieties of patients who have been self-isolating from the start of the pandemic and not allowing others into their homes.

For many, letting down those barriers to allow a Hospice at Home nurse into their “safe space” has been one of the biggest hurdles. Approaching with baby steps, building trust, offering emotional and psychological support and working with the families within the Public Health England guidelines has been one of the biggest challenges, but at the same time it has been one of the most rewarding.

As well as dealing with the invisible barriers, the Hospice at Home team is also having to deal with physical barriers which typically do not necessarily ‘fit’ with specialist end-of-life hospice care.

Ordinarily, hospice care is very personal, with nurses only wearing gloves and plastic aprons for patients’ personal care. Caring for those who are dying can be distressing and often extends far beyond the professional nurse/patient relationship.

Rowans nurses can be found holding a hand, holding a patient close, or hugging a close family member at a time when they need it most. In the current landscape, where social distancing is forcing so many people to physically be apart, standing close to families but not being able to hug them or hold their hand, skin to skin, in a gesture of comfort and understanding, is one of the hardest parts of the nurses’ role, with PPE creating more than a physical barrier.

However, patients and extended families have been amazing in their understanding and respect of the social distancing guidelines and have not only taken the advice on-board, but they have absolutely respected it, working with the Hospice at Home team to establish relationships and bonds with those unable to visit. Staying connected in the midst of a global pandemic is vital for patients and loved ones, especially when days are finite.

Ever mindful of this and trying to ease the pain of separation, the Rowans Hospice's beautiful ‘Tokens of Care’ hearts symbolise the importance of connections in this disconnected world. At a time when death is imminent, culturally there is often a strong need for a family to be together.

These beautifully hand-crafted hearts symbolise the holding of people in our hearts and are given as a pair – both chosen by the patient – with an identical one given to a nominated family member when someone is approaching death at home or in the hospice.

COVID-19 has undoubtedly caused a disruption to the care pathway and the charity has seen many families choosing to stay at home and out of institutionalised settings. Fear of contagion and necessary restrictions on visitors are undoubtedly factors, far beyond anyone’s control.

Whilst proving challenging, the Rowans Hospice at Home team has therefore greatly increased the number of nurses working in the community.

In order to keep up with the increased demand, the charity has mobilised this increased care by transferring staff from other areas of the care setting, offering an excellent learning opportunity to upskill, cross-skill and break new ground in end of life patient care, which will continue to support the charity now and into the future.

But all this comes at a price. In support of the national effort, the charity’s costs are now much higher. With 90% of income driven by its retail shops, voluntary donations and community fundraising events, the charity is now facing unprecedented financial losses.

As it begins to prepare for the aftermath and long haul to recovery from this healthcare crisis, the charity’s reliance on voluntary donations is now more critical than ever before to help them continue to care for patients and families at a time when they need it most.

In support of this, the charity has now launched an appeal and is calling on supporters and the community for help to raise vital and much-needed funds to support the future of hospice care in Portsmouth and south-east Hampshire.

If you have been touched by this story and would like to contribute, details of the appeal can be found here