Hospice faces surge in demand due to delayed diagnoses caused by Covid
Video report by ITV Meridian reporter Chlöe Oliver
A hospice providing care for hundreds of people across West Sussex say they're struggling to cope amid a surge in patients due to delayed diagnoses caused by Covid-19.
St Barnabas House hospice has had to adapt its services, add new beds; all while the nursing team are under increasing pressure.
The last few months have been challenging for everyone, but throughout these times, the hospice in Worthing have been working hard to ensure the continued wellbeing of everyone they care for.
Ellie Hayter, Interim Director of Clinical Services, says the knock-on effect of Covid is relentless for everyone at the hospice
Before the virus, patients spent an average of 10 days at the hospice.
Since the pandemic, patients were arriving only to spend 3 days, and more recently, were having an average of one day at the hospice.
A big part of their work is care in the community, where staff offer home visits to more than 400 people across Sussex.
It means people with life limiting illnesses can be offered care in the comfort of their homes with their families, rather than taking up hospital space at a critical time.
Throughout the crisis, the community teams have seen their caseloads increase by 50%.
As a charity hospice, they rely heavily on fundraising to carry out their vital work, but their income has fallen dramatically during the last year.
All of St Barnabas House’s care services are offered free of charge, so they rely on voluntary donations as they are not part of the NHS.
The hospice has dozens of charity shops and usually holds fundraising events or has people running marathons for it, all of which have been cancelled.
The dent in their budget comes at a time when every penny is helping fund the surge in demand for patients needing their care.