Sadly Harry, a beloved husband, father, son, brother and friend passed away on 6th May 2010 after a 4 year fight with Cancer, and oh did he fight.  His family and friends were both stunned and overwhelmed by the care that Harry and the whole family received whilst Harry was being cared for in St Christopher’s Hospice.  In Harry's last few weeks, he was unable to physically and emotionally cope with the volume of tablets and because of that started to use a syringe driver.

A syringe driver is a piece of equipment designed to deliver continuous drugs over 24 hours when patients can no longer take oral medication. When Harry’s condition started to deteriorate he was moved to St Christopher’s Hospice and it was here we saw what little equipment they have, and in some cases outdated.  The care teams are wonderful and without a doubt all angels disguised as nurses and doctors.  Sadly, the tools they have to work with are in need of updating.  The syringe driver Harry was using required a lot of manual interaction by the nurses as they had to measure the remaining medication using a simple ruler!   The new and updated syringe driver, the Graseby MS26, is a driver that will benefit patients by providing a more comfortable and efficient care programme.  This syringe driver is steadily being adopted by many NHS trusts across the country.  

New syringe drivers for St Christopher's would be Harry’s way of saying thank you and for his wife, Sybil, and his son, Elvin, to  give something back.  Your donations will help St Christopher’s Hospice give a comfortable solution for symptom control when a patient is unable to take medication orally.  It will be a way of Harry’s family assisting future palliative care in Harry’s memory.