At Birmingham St Mary’s Hospice, the wellbeing of the people we support, hospice visitors, staff and volunteers is our number one priority. We know that this is a worrying and uncertain time for many, but we’d like to assure you that we are committed to continuing to provide our expert care to individuals and their loved ones across Birmingham and Sandwell.
That’s why we’re following advice and guidance issued by the government and World Health Organisation, to ensure we’re taking the necessary steps regarding the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Visiting the Hospice
On the 3rd November we reviewed our visiting policy following the announcement of the national lockdown starting on 5th November. We will continue with the current arrangements in order to keep our patients, visitors and staff safe.
The policy allows one adult visitor per patient, for a maximum of 4 hours a day. This applies for all patients in the Inpatient Unit.
The policy is reviewed regularly and may be subject to change.
Visitors should contact the nursing team in advance to arrange a suitable visiting time. Please call the Inpatient Unit on 0121 752 8788 or 0121 752 8789.
We know how difficult these restricted visiting arrangements are for our patients, their families and loved ones. Thank you for your understanding and co-operation during these exceptional times.
Update on our services
Our focus is to keep our urgent and essential care services running. Therefore, our Inpatient Unit continues to operate and we are still providing urgent care to patients in their own homes. However, for patients with less urgent needs, we are monitoring and keeping in touch via telephone calls and digital consultations.
Unfortunately, we have had to temporarily suspend our face-to-face services of Day Hospice, Welcome Group, Space to Breathe and Support at Home. This is following government advice on social distancing, to help reduce the spread of coronavirus and keep people safe. Virtual Welcome Group and Space to Breathe sessions are now running and we are supporting other patients via telephone and video calls.
Our Family and Carer Support team are continuing to provide much-needed emotional and psychological support. Although we have had to stop home visits, we are offering telephone support.
If you’re being supported by the Hospice and have any questions (whether you’re a patient, partner, family member, loved one or carer) please give us a call. All the numbers for each of our services can be found here.
Our charity shops
As a charity, we rely on the generosity of our local community for over 60% of our funding, so we need your help more than ever before to continue to care for our patients and support families. If you can, please make a donation online to help keep our services running.
Fundraising activities
Following government guidelines restricting large scale gatherings, we have postponed some of our fundraising events. If you signed up to one of these events, a member of our team will be in touch soon to let you know your next steps.
We encourage you to support us in other ways, such as virtual events or donations, to enable us to continue to deliver much-needed services in these exceptional circumstances. Thank you to all our supporters who have continued to raise money in these very difficult times. Your generosity is needed now more than ever before.
For people wanting to make a donation to the Hospice, we are kindly asking you to make it online, via BACS or post – but not at the Hospice. This is to stop the spread of coronavirus and to help keep our patients safe. You can make your online donation here or give our fundraising team a call on 0121 752 8779.
Thank you again for your cooperation. For more information on the national guidelines about coronavirus, please visit here.