A personal plea from our Chief Executive, Steph Edusei:

Coronavirus is the biggest and gravest challenge St Oswald's Hospice clinical teams, supporting staff, volunteers and patients have ever faced in our almost 35 years of caring. We, like you, are all still struggling to come to terms with it.

Our wonderful team are working tirelessly to provide the best possible care and support and demand for our services is rising fast when like most charities, we are seeing our income fall.

A donation at this time will help us fund the extra staff nurses we need on shift, every night, because it takes so much longer to deliver expert personal care and ensure that every patient feels safe, supported and respected while wearing essential PPE (Personal protective equipment).

Or, it could fund the extra hours needed in our family and bereavement support service. People are devastated because they are not able to visit a loved one before they died. They need lots of support to process a bereavement where they couldn't share the warmth of a hug or the squeeze of a hand when they needed it most or weren't able to hold a funeral with friends and family to support one another.

We need your help. Donating via this appeal will mean our staff and volunteers will be able to continue providing expert, outstanding care to those patients and families who need it. We will be there in the middle of the night when patients are scared and there for those whose families are no longer able to come onsite to visit their loved ones until it is safe to do so.

By giving a gift to our appeal, you will be showing your committed and wonderful support of your local charitable hospice and we can't thank you enough for helping us all get through this critical time. We know that together we will get through this crisis. Thank you!

If you would prefer to make a donation over the phone, please call 0191 246 9123.

UPDATE: You may have heard the recent government announcement about charities receiving support through funding during the Coronavirus crisis. Although we are still waiting on further details from Hospice UK who are handling this process on our behalf, we are pleased to let you know that we have recently received an early instalment in to our bank account which will help with immediate cash flow. This is a very welcome boost and eases the pressure a little, however we are under no illusion that this funding will cover all costs, and so continue to need your support to help the hospice during this critical time. Thank you again for donating to our appeal.