In June 2017 our beloved Grandad, Ray suffered a stroke which required hospital treatment at the Leicester Royal Infirmary Stroke ward. Sadly owing to the severity of the stroke we were made aware that there was a high chance that Grandad would not survive and were advised to prepare for an end of life pathway.

Naturally we were all devastated to hear this news and wanted to ensure that grandad was both comfortable and could be in a place where his last few days could be spent peacefully and with dignity.

However, through no fault of staff on a busy NHS stroke ward we found the organising, available information and practical aspects of arranging for palliative care for Grandad to meet these aims at such a short and sudden notice both confusing and limited. The option of accessing a hospice or community palliative care was unavailable to us owing to Grandad's condition and this meant Grandad and his family were on the stroke ward for four days of what could have been specialist palliative care.

As a family we are grateful to the many staff who cared for Grandad, including Consultants, Junior Doctors, Nurses, HCA and specialist staff. However, despite the kindness of the staff who were also having to attend to many other competing demands on such a busy ward, Grandad's last few days were sadly spent in a tired and sometimes noisy clinical side room, far from ideal for palliative care.

Therefore, both in memory of Grandad and as thanks to the wonderful NHS staff who cared for him, we would like to raise funds to donate to the Leicester Royal Infirmary Stroke ward to specifically help support future patients and families who require palliative care and are too ill or close to end of life to be moved to a more specialiast palliative environment.

At this stage we are unsure how or what form this may take and will be speaking directly with the clinical staff who helped to care for Grandad to discuss how best to use monies raised.