St Nicholas Hospice Care provides vital help and support for people at end of life and into bereavement.

The charity has recently been awarded a grant through the Norfolk Recovery Fund to contribute towards the salary of a Hospice Specialist Nurse and the care they give to those living with incurable illness in Thetford.  

The Coronavirus pandemic had an immediate and dramatic impact for St Nicholas Hospice and they moved fast to adapt their services to continue to protect the people they care for. 

Victoria Bowman, St Nicholas Hospice Trusts Officer said: “We are extremely grateful to the Norfolk Community Foundation for their recent generosity. The funds they have awarded us will make a big difference to the charity and the vital care and support that we are able to provide in Thetford. 

“As a consequence of the Coronavirus pandemic our community nursing team has seen a big increase in demand. Necessary restrictions mean that more people are choosing to die at home, where they can be with those closest to them more easily. 

“In addition, cancelled chemotherapy and radiotherapy appointments during lockdown, means that sadly we are caring for people with more complex needs who are often experiencing greater levels of pain, these funds will help us resource the extra time we need to spend with these patients.” 

Support is not just for patients, but for carers, family and friends too, and includes everything from specialist medical care to advanced care planning and bereavement support. They provide carers with practical education and training and can respond quickly to crisis situations such as carer breakdown or rapid deterioration.

The charity have been working more closely with fellow healthcare organisations in Thetford, and through the Hearts and Crosses initiative, which sees donated knitted and wooden hearts given to families who cannot be together, they have provided a comfort to many, particularly to those in care homes.