I am Deborah McAllister and I am a Staff Nurse here at Northern Ireland Hospice. 

After months of extremely hard work, we now have a vision for the future of local hospice care. 

Our hugely popular Day Hospice has been welcoming patients for many years now.  It’s a vital part of our hospice care and a crucial touchpoint for people learning to live with a life-threatening illness. 

But, we are limited to welcoming only 15 patients each day in our facility – and we were aware that while coming in for half a day each week was great for some, for many others it simply wasn’t the best solution. 

So, we have designed a brand-new service, which will be delivered through our new ‘Hospice Hub’ and, over time, will replace our existing Day Hospice. The focus will be on crucial time spent with the patient and specialist clinics to help them manage the symptoms specific to their disease or condition.  Our patients will be able to receive physio and occupational therapy.  

How we need your help

Once we’re up and running, we’ll need funds to pay for the nursing, therapy and support time the new clinics and patient sessions will require. An initial two-hour session at the ‘Hospice Hub’ will involve meeting a patient for the first time and putting a care plan in place. This will cost just £35.62. 

But, before we get to this point, we need to buy some specialist equipment and furniture. We need to buy a mobile, hydraulic couch, so that patients can be moved easily between treatments. This new item will cost £1,062 – perhaps you could give £26.55 and be one of 40 people who’d buy that for us?   

We also need to buy a new electronic bed frame, a contour mattress and a vital-signs monitor, so that we can keep patients safe and comfortable while they’re having a blood transfusion, for example. in total, we need to find £2,960 for this equipment – if 30 people each gave £98.66 then we can buy all three.