St John’s Hospice is planning to reopen its Day Hospice in July

The team at St John’s Hospice on Weston Road in Balby is planning to reopen its Day Hospice to patients during week starting July 5.

The Day Hospice is a valued and much-missed service that provides a therapeutic holistic environment for patients who have a life-limiting illness.

To be able to reopen the Day Hospice in a COVID-Secure way we will be structuring if differently. We will start by inviting a reduced number of our existing patients each day. Those patients will be invited back and informed of the new ways of working to keep everyone safe. These will be those who are well enough to arrive by their own transport and who are less dependent.

All patients will need to wear a fluid resistant surgical mask when moving around the Day Hospice. Before arriving at the Day Hospice, patients will also have to do a self-administered lateral flow test at home. Patients will be screened by the hospice colleagues over the phone to make sure the patient is well enough to attend. Patients will be supported through the whole process.

New referrals will be accepted, provided they meet the interim new ways of working and if there are spaces available due to reduced capacity. If there is no capacity, new referrals will be added to a waiting list and the referrer will be informed.

In the future we hope to reset the Day Hospice for those patients who meet the original Day Hospice criteria and have a higher dependency. This will depend on the success of the initial reopening.

Thank you and we are excited to be welcoming patients back.